Phantasmagoria Trues
幻想浪漫紀行 ―Phantasmagoria Trues― (Gensou Rouman Kikou, "Fantasy Romance Travel Log") is a Touhou fan game made by Len in Danmakufu 0.12m. It is a remake of his earlier game Phantasm Romance containing an overhauled game system, three game modes, and an extra stage. Version 1.0 was released on 30 August 2011, with version 1.1 adding the Terminus stage. Version 1.2 was released on 1 April 2013 and introduced Simple mode, a system which is based on that of Phantasm Romance.
The gameplay is mechanics-heavy. Other than the trademark Touhou mechanics such as graze and point of collection. The gameplay revolves around a RED gauge similar to DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label and a dynamic multiplier that can affect the gameplay. Additionally there is also a hyper system in most game modes.
For replay videos, visit the Video Index.
Controls
Phantasmagoria Trues runs on dnh 0.12m. So it is mainly played with keyboard.
- Arrow Keys: navigates the menu and moves the character.
- Z: Causes a short barrage of shots to be fired; hold it down for autofire.
- X: Releases a bomb.
- Shift: Dedicated focus button. Slows down player movement and concentrates shot.
- C: User key. Can be set to hyper release.
Other controls
- Backspace: Resets script. The fastest way to restart the game with the same shot type.
- Escape: Pauses the game. 1st option resumes, 2nd option returns to dnh main menu, 3rd option returns to script select.
- Space: Fast forward. Avoid it during gameplay. Additionally it doesn't work well with Vpatch. So run the dnh program in isolation to fast forward through replays.
Setup
Please check the following page in Moriya Shrine. It offers a premade package that contains dnh 0.12m, vpatch for less input lag and better resolution, and added sound effects + sprites. On the player's side. They need to run Vpatch.exe in japanese locale. This can be done by changing region settings in the control panel or using a program called Locale Emulator.
Tuning
Once the player runs the script. The main menu has an option called Tuning. It should open this menu:
- Trail Mode: Setting to true will make the game easier but disable alternate routes and the final stage. Always set it to false unless the player wants to familiarise themselves with the game mechanics.
- Zone: Setting it to Select gives the player an option to select zone before starting a run. Setting to Standard, Advanced or Unlimited will instantly start a run in the preferred Zone(For clarity, game modes are called Zones).
- Light Mode: Reduces effects for performance if set to true.
- Release: Sets the hyper release key to either shot(shot needs to be pressed twice), bomb(X key) or user(C key). Only applicable in Zones with a hyper system.
- Play Music: Self-explanatory.
- Simple Mode: Setting to true completely changes the game and removes most mechanics. Thus, making the game much more straight forward and simple.
- Data Reset: Hold the shot key to reset progress and scoreboard.
If the player wants to adjust window size. They can open vpatch.ini file in notepad and change Width and Height to their liking.
Gameplay
Phantasmagoria Trues plays like a run of the mill danmakufu script. It spans 6-7 stages and at the end of each stage the player fights a boss. Depending on the Zone selected. The enemy patterns and spellcards will be different. Additionally 2 out of 3 Zones have a hyper system.
HUD
- 1: Player sprite. Hitbox is a red dot. It is considerably smaller than a typical Touhou hitbox. So the graze box is also smaller.
- 2: Current zone display. Shows Whether Trail Mode is on or not.
- 3: Item Border. Also known as Point of Collection. Going above the line collects all item on screen. The PoC line is always displayed even during gameplay.
- 4: Score, Lives, and bomb count. The player can build up to 15 lives and 8 bombs max. Extends are still gonna be rewarded when the player reaches max lives/bombs.
- 5: r.E.D Gauge. Each notch increases the density and speed of the bullets. It increases by collecting point items and decreases by collecting multiplier items.
- 6: Extend Gauges. Shows the player's progress until they receive an extend. The game uses quantity extends rather than score extends. Red Gauge is for lives and Green Gauge is for bombs.
- 7: Graze Gauge. Shows progress towards a Graze Spiritual Strike. For the sake of simplicity. It will be called Graze Explosion or Graze Cancel.
- 8: BASE and Multiply values. BASE increases permanently by collecting point items. Multiply increases by collecting multiplier item and can increase or decrease, capping at 999.
- 9: Multiplier Gauge. It is retained by collecting items or shooting. If it's empty. The multiply value drops.
- 10: RATEx is a permanently increasing sub-multiplier. BASE and RATEx are exclusively related to score.
- 11: Item count. Blue number displays no. of point items while the yellow number displays no. of multiplier items collected.
Shot Types
Phantasmagoria Trues uses the default Danmakufu 0.12m shot types. They are most similar to Touhou 7 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom Shot types. Though, The Shot Types Were rebalanced in version 1.2:
| Shot Type | Damage(boss damage) | Bomb Damage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReimuA | 0.85x(1.0x) | 1.6x | Homing. The worst Shot Type in the game. |
| ReimuB | 1.0x(1.0x) | 1.0x | Spread needles. Sufficient but compared to marisa Shot Types, it is lackluster. |
| MarisaA | 1.65x(1.3x) | 1.6x | Narrow splash. The best Shot Type in the game. |
| MarisaB | 1.5x(1.15x) | 2.5x | Piercing. Not as good as MarisaA but stronger than Reimu Shot Types. |
Reimu holds 3 bombs while Marisa holds 2 bombs.
Items
| Item | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Point Item | Rewards score. Progresses Lives extend Gauge. |
 |
Multiplier Item(Rate Item) | Increases multiplier. Value doubled whether its converted from a point item or not. Progresses Bomb extend Gauge. |
 |
Hyper Point Item(Hypoint) | Rewards score and 3 frames of invincibility(stacking). Every 10 hypoints increases Graze Gauge by 1. Does not progress any Extend Gauges. This item isn't applicable to Standard Zone. |
r.E.D Gauge
Starts at zero upon starting a run. It is increased by collecting point items or hyper points. And decreases by collecting multiplier items. The rank does not affect bosses and cannot be adjusted during them. But can be adjusted after defeating a boss even after stage clear. The game gives the player time to collect the last chunk of items however they need after the boss's last spell card.
The bullet density goes as follows:
| r.E.D Gauge % | Density & Speed |
|---|---|
| 0% - 49% | 1x |
| 50% - 79% | 2x |
| 80% - 99% | 3x |
| 100% | 4x |
The notches inside the gauge are rough estimates of each density level. A good indicator of 4x density is the thin red line on the far right of the gauge. This is important as the difference between 3x and 4x density is 1%. Meaning the slightest degradation of rank can be detrimental.
Graze Gauge
The Graze Gauge fills up after the player grazes 200 times. Once it's filled. A rainbow circle(cancel area) expands and stays on for 4 seconds and produces 100 point items. If the multiplier is above 800. It produces 200 point items. During boss non-spells. The graze cancel produces multiplier items and doesn't increase the Rate. The items produced appear spontaneously close to each other. Meaning that the positions are random but not 100% random as the next item will always spawn close to the previous spawned items. This can have minimal affect in the player's route depending on the context.
Hyper System
Applicable only to non-Standard Zones. Once the player hits 999x multiplier value. Hyper system automatically activates and cancels surrounding bullets. Forming a large yellow ring around the player sprite.
The Hyper doesn't necessarily make the player stronger like traditional ones. But rather gives the player the ability to hyper release. Additionally, point items entering the yellow ring produce hyper points. Hypoints are autocollected after a delay and give the player 3 frames of invincibility and can stack up to 60 frames. Hyper also allows enemies to shoot back revenge bullets(indicated by the black bullets with the red outline).
Revenge Bullets
In Unlimited Zone. All enemies shoot revenge bullets whether the player is in hyper or not. But those revenge bullets are less dense and can be sealed. If the player is in hyper. The enemies shoot back unsealable revenge bullets(applies to Advanced Zone as well). The hyper revenge bullets come in 3 specific patterns:
| Pattern | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Straight | Aimed, shot by low HP enemies/zakos. |
 |
4-way | Aimed, shot by medium HP enemies. |
 |
Star | Static, shot by high HP enemies. |
Keep in mind there is no visual indication of what the enemy will shoot back. The player has to know which enemies shoot which patterns. In certain cases, the revenge bullets can be super grazed before the player becomes invincible especially the star pattern. Depending on rank it can give tons of graze or an instant graze cancel.
Hyper Release
If the player presses the release button. It cancels all bullets within a certain radius and cancels all revenge bullets into hyper points. Depending on how many revenge bullets the player cancels, the release can refund the multiplier starting from 500x and 998x at most. Keep in mind left over i frames will deplete outside the hyper unless the player enters hyper again. Large releases can help fill up the graze gauge because of the amount of hypoints the player is collecting.
Refund calculation:
500 + (0.75 * no. revenge bullets converted) *up to a maximum of 998.
Zones
There are 3 different Zones in Phantasmagoria Trues. All zones share the same 6 stages but with major differences. Such as alternate routes, different enemy patterns. And completely different bosses.
| Zone | Hyper | Unseen Areas | Revenge bullets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | No | Yes | No |
| Advanced | Yes | Yes | Hyper only |
| Unlimited | Yes | No | Always(Trail mode off) |
Keep in mind, enabling Trail Mode will prevent the player from entering the final stage and unseen areas. Terminus(Extra stage) follows the same rules as Unlimited Zone.
Extend thresholds
Each zone has different extend thresholds:
| Zone | Life extend(Point Item) | Life extend increment | Bomb extend(Multiplier Item) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 1400 | 50 | 1000 |
| Advanced | 1000 | 100 | 1400 |
| Unlimited | 1200 | 50 | 1400 |
| Terminus | 1500 | 150 | 1500 |
Note that converting a point item into a multiplier item doubles the value e.g. The player has to convert 500 point items in Standard Zone to receive a bomb extend. Additionally, 1up and bomb items cannot be collected via Point of Collection.
Unlockables
Unseen Area 1
- 1cc either standard or advanced.
- The zone that was 1cc'd then has to be played from stage 1 to 3 without using more than 1 bomb during bosses.
Unseen Area 2
- Choose the right route in stage 4.
- Pass through UA1 or avoid losing more than 3 resources(lives & bombs combined) against Area 4 boss.
Unseen Area 3
- Pass through UA2.
- 15 Spellcards have to be captured by the end of UA2.
- If the player didn't pass through UA1. Then they should have 500,000 BASE in standard zone or 700,000 BASE in advanced zone. Additionally The multiplier should be at 999x. This condition is not possible in Simple Mode as there is no multiplier.
Terminus
- Defeat Mima(Standard or Advanced 1cc).
- Defeat Shinki(Standard Unseen or Unlimited 1cc).
- Defeat Alice(Advanced Unseen 1cc).
There is a code to unlock Terminus before fulfilling the above conditions. When in the main menu. Hold the C key for 15 seconds.
Miscellaneous
- In Unlimited Zone. Shinki has an additional TLB spellcard. It can only be encountered in a real run and when the player's BASE is above 900,000.
- To unlock Area 1 to 5 in practice. Clear them on any difficulty.
- To unlock Area 6 or Unseen Areas. Clear them on all difficulties.
Scoring
Phantasmagoria Trues has shared parallels with Takumi's Giga Wing Series. Instead of a single multiplier. There are three variables to exponentially increase. the multiplier, a dynamic value that starts at 1x every stage and can reach up to 999x. Base, which dedicates the score received from all sources. It starts at +10,000(+500,000 in Terminus). And finally the Rate, which acts as a sub-multiplier that starts at 1.00. Both Base and Rate can be raised indefinitely.
Multiply Value
The multiply Value(seen on the bottom right outside the play field), only increases through the multiplier item. When the player stops shooting. a purple aura forms around them. Any point item that enters this aura is converted and auto-collected as a multiplier item. If the point item was converted, it increases the multiplier twice the amount. So if 100 multiplier items where converted. that will increase the multiplier by 200x. Score is multiplied by the multiplier value squared for all sources of points except clear bonus. The multiplier also activates hyper upon reaching 999x(See Hyper System).
Base and Rate
Base is the value above the multiplier in the HUD. It starts at +10,000, and increases by collecting point items. If collected manually, it increases by +10. If collected via Item Border(Point of Collection). It increases by +20. Hyper points will always increase Base by +20. Rate on the other hand increases through the following actions:
- Spellcard capture(+0.10)
- Graze cancel during stages(+0.05)
- Hyper release(+0.01 for every 100 revenge bullets)
Base and Rate are both equally important. However, increasing both efficiently is a challenging task to accomplish.
Stage Clear Bonus
After each stage, a clear bonus is calculated depending on player performance:
Bonus Rate PointItemCount x RateItemCount x max(Rate/2,1) Clear Bonus Bonus Rate x Bonus Rate Base Point Bonus floor(Base Item Value / 100) x RateItemCount x Bonus Rate Life Line Bonus (111 x ((4 x lives in stock) + bombs in stock)) x PointItemCount x Bonus rate x Area number
In Terminus, the clear bonus is a bit different:
Bonus Rate PointItemCount x RateItemCount Clear Bonus Bonus Rate x Bonus Rate Base Point Bonus floor(Base Item Value / 200) x RateItemCount x Bonus Rate Life Line Bonus (111 x ((4 x lives in stock) + bombs in stock)) x PointItemCount x Bonus rate x Area number
Terminus is considered to be Area 10. While Unseen Areas are 7, 8 and 9 respectively.
Bullet Flash
take some of the claims here with a grain of salt as this bug is still not fully understood. Also known as glitch cancel in the past. Under certain conditions. Certain enemies inside a cancel area can shoot graze-able bullets for 1 frame. This bug is essential in Unlimited Area 4 and Standard UA3.
Most enemies are programmed to produce a light that converts into a bullet. But inside the cancel circle, The light can only stay for 1 frame so there isn't enough time for it to convert into a bullet. But when the enemy script is programmed to shoot a bullet immediately. The player is able to graze it inside the cancel circle. The engine checks for bullets to delete every frame. But doesn't really delete the bullet until the next frame after it's already been checked.
Through many trails and errors these are the supposed conditions:
- The cancel circle has to be produced before the bullet-flashing enemy moves into screen.
- Avoid shooting the enemies that come before the bullet-flashing enemy.
- Avoid overlapping different types of cancel circles e.g. extend + graze circles will stop the bug from working.
Not every enemy that is bullet flash-able can be utilised unfortunately because of how stages are structured. The trigger seems to be the enemies before the bullet-flashing enemy. The more enemies there are before, the better the flash.
General Strategies
- Just like Giga Wing. Increasing the necessary values early will yield better score later on.
- In a scenario where item count is high in a late stage. The player can balance both point item and multiplier item counts to exponentially increase stage clear bonus. Unlimited Area 4 is a great example of a stage where 1:1 item ratio is essential.
- The player can be creative with the cancel area by grazing aimed bullets at the edge. This is most applicable in Standard Zone.
- Graze Cancel Hyper Release(or GCHR for short) is a technique that helps the player "kill two birds with one stone". The player has to graze cancel and before the circle expands, use hyper release to convert revenge bullets into hypoints and generate extra items to drastically increase rate and base. As doing both seperately will waste opportunities. GCHR is quite precise and high risk especially since the player cannot graze while invincible.
- controlling the extend gauges is necessary to avoid triggering it at the wrong time. Otherwise the extend will cancel all bullets if not controlled well.
- After a hyper release. In most cases it is better to get back into hyper then autocollect all items to get extra hypoints.
- Avoid dropping items off screen and make sure to collect as much if possible. This not only supports the Base but also the clear bonus.
Bugs
- Timing out a spell card displays the spell card bonus despite not being rewarded with it.
- Yuuka's master spark during the final spell can sometimes move much faster in Standard Zone.
- Terminus Base Point Bonus isn't applied in the final displayed score and instead uses the general Base Point Bonus formula.
- Under some circumstances, enemies can still shoot bullets for 1 frame inside a cancel area. See Bullet Flash for more info.
