I'm not a Parsee fan but i can kinda understand why some people would like her. Maybe they just like her design or feel bad for her, because at the end of the day Parsee doesn't really have a choice in being a jealous jerk, she IS the embodiment of jealously after all, and it doesn't seem like she can control it that well. And if Satori's words are true, Parsee might have an heart deep down, who knows

I mean I'm not saying you're wrong for liking her, but why is there people who are fans of her? She'll trash-talk you the moment you turn your back from her, and is always irrationally jealous towards everyone. What you, Parsee fans, see in her that you consider her as your favorite character? Is it due to relatability, sympathizing her, or something else?

Alright, thank you for taking me up on the offer. I'm open and genuinely curious about positive opinions on this, so keep them coming. Now, as I promised, I'll post my point of view as well. It won't be strictly negative but... I did warn you I don't hold back on criticism and opinions.

See I think all your criticisms/opinions are pretty reasonable actually now that you've written it all out, it's just a bit hard for me to understand how that translates into such a visceral dislike for the tracks that you physically get sick of them :P

Alright, thank you for taking me up on the offer. I'm open and genuinely curious about positive opinions on this, so keep them coming. Now, as I promised, I'll post my point of view as well. It won't be strictly negative but... I did warn you I don't hold back on criticism and opinions.

Touhou 17

My biggest issue with this game's soundtrack is what ZUN has done to percussion and guitar – too much distortion on both of them. Now, it's not something that came out of nowhere. Distorted percussion was used in TH16 pretty well, and actually started showing up in LoLK to a small degree. And distorted guitar has been a thing since DDC. But in this one ZUN definitely went with it overboard too much. To the point of making it so that listening to this soundtrack drives me physically sick at times (I even had to spread out writing this up over several days purely due to that). There are other problems I have here and there too, but I guess let's look at things in order.

Stage 1 - The Lamentations Known Only to Jizo

Okay, gotta give credit where credit is due – this is a nice theme. The main lead instrument is a bit unusual, and the part where it starts has all previous instruments still doing their own melodies, which sounds pretty messy as a result. But this is definitely a theme I remember with some fondness when thinking of the new game music. Still, it feels like it would be more fitting as a first theme in a scene-based side game. It has that Mystery in Your Town vibe.

Boss 1 - Jelly Stone

Aaand here's where things start falling apart and sounding like a mess. The lead instrument, which was used well to create the atmosphere in the stage theme, doesn't work well for rapid high notes it's used for in this one. It worked for zunpets but that doesn't mean it'll work for anything. I actually don't mind the bass grind 5 seconds in, it reminds me of DDC/ISC. But percussion "solo" at 33 seconds shows quite well why going with even more distortion was a bad idea.

Stage 2 - Lost River

Here's where dissonance comes in. Now, I actually appreciate music using that principle. One of my most favourite games is Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and it uses music like that extremely well. So I can say that this theme actually manages to pull it off and create an appropriate atmosphere... at first, and probably by accident. Because when the bass at 1:30 kicks in, it becomes impossible to listen to. It doesn't even play any kind of melody, just random notes to the rhythm. Compare that to how the same kind of guitar is used in Romantic Escape Flight (especially at 1:28). For dissonance to work it actually has to be very specifically measured. This is just cacophony that takes me out of experience. Also it's here that the distorted percussion starts grating on my ears, when it's used rapidly and randomly.

Boss 2 - The Stone Baby and the Submerged Bovine

A competent theme that pulls off dissonance just fine. But what I get here is a vibe whiplash. Unlike the stage theme that has a pretty pleasant melody, this one doubles down on the gloom, and even the chorus sounds like a funeral tune. I feel ZUN tried and failed to pull off the same thing as in Dark Side of Fate and Green-Eyed Jealousy. The former, despite having a melody that conveys a feeling of despair, was still pretty exciting due to how fast it plays. The latter sounds pretty slow and tragic but has good intense percussion to keep you going. This theme, on the other hand, has such a depressive mood that it makes me just want to stop playing the game altogether. Not the kind of soundtrack you want at the start of a BULLET HELL.

Stage 3 – Everlasting Red Spider Lily

This theme is pretty smooth and even. WAY too smooth an even. Even chorus barely feels like it stands out. I think ZUN went for a PoFV vibe here. But I feel even blandest PoFV themes had more variance in them to keep things interesting. This one is just in one ear and out the other. The game sure could use something to shake up the player after the last fight's mood dampener (again, think of MoF and SA stage 3 starts), but this theme absolutely does not help.

Boss 3 - Seraphic Chicken

And then we have what I believe to be the best theme in the game. It has a strong melody that sounds fitting for an epic fight, and the chorus is especially heroic. It wouldn't sound out of place in a JRPG (if played by very different instruments). I don't really mind its weird time signature or how chaotic it can get. Sadly, it has a huge problem for me – it starts sounding too busy at times to the point of actually driving me nauseous. Too many instruments overlapping in high frequency range gives me a strange disorienting vertigo-like feeling. And the distorted bass constantly droning the same note in the background doesn't help things either. This theme represents the height of my disappointment with the new game soundtracks – even if the melody is something I can like, the problems I have with instruments can ruin all the fun.

Stage 4 - Unlocated Hell

The demo left me with pretty mixed and uncomfortable feeling about its music. So what does the first new stage in the full game start with? A segment where it's impossible to figure out the rhythm at all. Way to make the dizzying feeling of the previous track even worse. The track is pretty okay after that calms down though, even when the broken rhythm guitar chords come back because at least you do have other instruments rooting you in a stable rhythm this time. There is still a clash of instruments on high frequencies at times, but at least this time such moments are spaced out by nice and quiet ones. Still, the first impression alone sours the whole track for me. An even stable percussion would've fixed that easily.

Boss 4 - Tortoise Dragon ~ Fortune and Misfortune

Nice theme, there does seem to be some weirdness with the rhythm. Chorus melody almost feels like it's out of sync, but it flows adequately enough. However, this sounds pretty generic and low-key for such a supposedly important character. That's actually the same problem I have with Sagume's theme, so I guess ZUN tried to repeat whatever he tried to do there. But seriously, how does SOME RANDOM CHICKEN have a more epic theme than one of the leaders of the beast world?

Stage 5 - Beast Metropolis

Wow, this one sounds almost like an old Touhou theme. Like something that could come from UFO in particular. There's even zunpets playing the main melody at the end, instead of some weird new instrument. A decent, if a bit generic, track.

Boss 5 - Joutoujin of Ceramics

Ugh, this is where distorted percussion gets disgustingly loose. It's literal brown noise at times. But besides that the theme is nice, good usage of the weird rhythms. And the melody at 0:46 sounds pretty epic, kind of like a JRPG boss fare. There's just one problem I have with this one – complete mismatch with the character. No, ZUN, haniwas don't feel dangerous or scary, stop trying to give them that vibe.

Stage 6 - Electric Heritage

Busting out a new instrument for the final stage? Commendable, that gives it a unique atmosphere indeed. But this stands out so much that it becomes the point where I start asking, "Is this even Touhou anymore?"

Boss 6 - Entrust this World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World

As far as final boss themes go, this one is... unremarkable. The main melody is a bit too playful, and distorted guitar and percussion are too weak to give it the extra impact it needs. So rather than something fitting a final boss fight, this sounds more like a stage theme. So my opinion on this one is rather cold.

But then 1:31 and 3:13 happen...

Now, I did see arguments that the Theme of Eastern Story leitmotif is used plenty of times in Touhou music. I prefer to make a distinction between just a sequence of notes going up and down and ToES – the latter is a very specific note sequence and has short flairs after two or more up-down repeats. So what I would recognize as that leitmotif isn't used nearly as much as people might think.

The thing is, I kinda dislike leitmotif usage as a concept because it feels like a lazy and, what's worse, obvious creative shortcut. I have played games that used leitmotifs in their soundtracks too bluntly so their music just ended up blending together. But I also played games that used leitmotifs pretty creatively, so I wouldn't insist that it's always a bad thing. But I do believe that there needs to be a thematic significance behind the leitmotif for it to not feel used wrongly.

So where is Theme of Eastern Story used in most blatant ways? Mostly as the base for title and ending themes, which is understandable. In games themselves, the most notable place is IN stage 4, which is a rare instance where you fight Reimu so it's fitting. If you stretch it a bit, DDC stage 3 theme has a part sounding like it, which I would say gets a pass since it also takes place in bamboo forest and it's supposed to add to the nostalgia. Also Eirin's theme uses it as bridges, but that fight absolutely sells the cosmic importance of the events for Gensokyo.

Now look at this game's stage 6 and its boss. Not only does it have nothing to do with Reimu, or bamboo forest, or even Eirin. It has absolutely nothing to do with Gensokyo at all. This is where I finally asked myself: "Why is this in a Touhou game? Why are the usual heroines involved? Why should I care about any of this?" This moment is as far away from deserving the distinction of having THE leitmotif of Touhou as a series associated with it as possible. This was the moment when my faith in ZUN's creativity had completely shattered.

*insert Spoony BETRAYAL clip here*



...Well, that's enough for now. Will post my thoughts on the other games when I compile them.

I wonder what happened with the team writing the articles and translations on the front page? I recall them being active right up until the site shut down. Also there's apparently mirror of gensokyo at gensokyou.org.