Castle of Shikigami 3

[h1]全国2位になるまでやりこんだが、久しぶりにプレイしたら全部忘れていた[/h1] 本作は2005年にゲーセンで稼働した作品だ。 スコア集計はキャラ別とタイプ別（1キャラクタ2タイプ）で行われていた作品で私は霧島零香（壱式）で一時的に全国2位を取るまで頑張ったものだが、そこまでやりこんだはずなのに20年ぶりのプレイは驚くほどあらゆるパターンを忘れていた。 [h1]あれこれ[/h1] キーコンフィグは満足できる内容だったが、画面サイズがウィンドウモードのみでゲーム側から変更ができず、画面サイズの設定も種類が少ないのは、さすがにやっつけ仕事である。 本作自体も昔移植されていた内容と（恐らく）変わっておらず、「2025年にSteamに移植された記念の何か」は何もなかった。 [h1]久しぶりにやって気づいたこと[/h1] イラストの古さ…はさすがに20年前なので仕方がない。 ゲーム部分では「自機の当たり判定」が驚くほど見づらく、自分の位置と式神の位置を誤認して被弾するレベルだった。また式神の城自体が競合の弾幕STGに比べて当たり判定がやや大きめということもあって「避けたと思ったら当たっていた」ということがあった。 [h1]最後に[/h1] 懐かしんで購入して「軽くノーコンALLやってみるか」と思ってみたらびっくりするほど道中のパターンもボスのパターンも忘れていたので、新規プレイのつもりで楽しめそうだ。 とりあえずノーコンALLできるところまで腕を取り戻して、ついでに他のキャラもノーコンALLを目指したい。

Ohayo bonjour, resident Shikigami fanatic reporting in. Full disclosure: this is possibility my least favorite of the trilogy, [b]story wise[/b]. Much of Shikigami 3's story is mostly callbacks and references to super obscure lore details. For instance, the final boss is Kohtaro's childhood friend from a [i]JP only visual novel spinoff[/i], one of them is Fumiko's stepmother(which you only learn on her route), one of the characters is a cousin of Kim from 1/2(revealed in her route), and my personal favorite, one is Taito's own Time Gal herself: Reika Kirishima, whose route is pure, unadulterated comedy gold. That said, it does manage to have some great story moments, both dramatically and hilariously. Kohtaro's is mostly serious, while Reika's is priceless hilarity, and sometimes you get a bit of both(Fumiko's campaign), along with lots of fourth wall breaking(if you're crazy enough to pair Roger with Munchausen, Fumiko's butler). So here's where it gets dicey: the localization. As some may know, Shikigami 3 already came out for the Wii in the US almost, good lord, 20 years ago. The script was done by Aksys, who knocked it out of the park. All the jokes were faithful or localized with brilliant accuracy(or the equivalent thereof), the voice acting was all great, etc. So does this version use their work? Not at all, but it's tonally similar, The localization is technically faithful, but it lacks the key flair for character mannerisms and personality that Aksys' localization team had. Also, the grammar ranges from bad to atrocious. It smacks of bad editing, assuming the game even had one. For instance, Yukari's boss fight with Mihee has her dialogue [i]including stage directions[/i] in parenthesis, periods are often missing, there's erratic spacing before ellipses, and on and on. It's no Shikigami 1 debacle, but it's also a massive step back from how good Shikigami 2's (re-)localization was. So now that that's out of the way: how's the, uh, [b]game[/b], you ask? If it wasn't broke, they didn't fix it. The game looks better than ever, all the models and art is super crisp(and I love the new banner), and even the font is great. Shikigami 3, difficulty wise? By far the hardest of the 3. The final boss is an unrelenting ordeal, easily the trilogy's toughest, so if you're here for that, you won't be disappointed. There's even more added difficulties like Extreme(and Extreme+) for the super masochistic, not to mention the sheer challenge of 1ccing the game, period. So yeah, while I am overly disappointed in the shoddy editing work, strictly on the game's own merits and the decent-good relocalization, I'll reluctantly give it a pass: but PSA, Cosmo Machia: [b]I would have edited it for free, and the offer stands.[/b] (Also, an art gallery would be nice, a la Shiki 2/3 for consoles.)

プラクティスでのリトライやメインゲームのキャラチェンジ等の画面の遷移を数回繰り返しただけでOS再起動まで動作が不安定になる（最悪の場合ゲームを再起動しても画面遷移等のロードを挟んだ際に頻繁にクラッシュする）のは流石にどうなの... バイナリ全体(というかほぼ丸ごとで権利表記などのちょっとした部分をいじっただけ)は過去のサイバーフロントからリリースされたPC版がベースでその頃の対応OSは2000とXPまでという骨董品 過去のPC版を改修すらロクにせずに無理やり動かしてるとかマジありえないよな？って感じなのでやり込む人ほどホントおすすめできない [h1]ベースからして腐ってる物を何故そのまま出したんだ? クラウドファンディングで出資募っておいてお出しする物がこれって冗談で言ってるのか？ ドラマティックチェンジモードいれるならそれこそ1から作り直せと思うし何故実装されている後発の家庭用版ベースで移植しなかったのか理由が知りたいがそれを知った所でこの会社は客を舐めてる仕事をしたという事実には変わりないだろう [/h1]

Fantastic bullet hell game, hopefully the developers make a brand new one after all these years.

finally the trilogy is out in europe. a great port of a banger for the shump heds with new content

The grind for completionists is real, but for most players, the adrenaline rush of surviving each insane stage and pure bullet-hell will be more than enough to keep them hooked. If you’re in the mood for relentless action and precision dodging, this bullet-hell shooter delivers an exhilarating experience that demands your full attention. With both Practice Mode and two primary difficulty settings—Normal and Extreme—the game offers something for both casual players and hardcore bullet-dodging enthusiasts. The Normal Mode caters well to fans of the shoot’em up genre who prefer a straightforward challenge. But if you’re hungry for punishment, Extreme Mode turns the intensity up to eleven. Expect more bullets, because enemies explode in a shower of deadly projectiles, and three sub-modes that offer varying rewards, tempting you to push your skills to the limit. The storyline is hardly the focus here, but there are some touches. Each of the nine characters offers unique dialogue snippets after beating stages or during boss encounters, which culminates in a static end image. Opting to play with two characters does shake things up with different dialogue exchanges, but don’t expect a memorable narrative. It’s mostly about getting you from one stage to the next. Achievement hunters will have to go through a repetitive grind. To collect all achievements, you’ll need to conquer Normal Mode, all three Extreme Mode variants, and tackle the game with every possible pair of characters. Luckily, the game’s friendly enough to let you play solo and call in the secondary character when you’re nearing the final boss. The controls are blissfully simple and designed to keep you focused on the action. Your basic tools are a fire button you can hold down to save your fingers, a screen-clearing special attack, and a focused shot for precision. While each character boasts unique visuals and bullet patterns, the core mechanics remain consistent. The game offers the well-known mechanic: getting close to enemies or their bullets amps up your normal shot’s damage, causing your bullets to turn red. Meanwhile, the focused shot provides a controlled, slower movement and slightly increased damage, making dodging easier. But if you’re a daredevil, “grazing” bullets fills up a special bar. Once charged, you can activate it to boost firepower and point accumulation. Every character comes with two shot types. The first is standard fare, firing in preset directions, while the second grants more control—though the chaotic bullet swarms make it challenging to fully master. The game takes you through five stages. While environments change, the enemies are pretty standard and not unique. The stage structure stays true to genre conventions: waves of basic enemies, a mid-stage mini-boss, more enemy waves, and then the main boss. The boss fights are fun, with multi-stage health bars and attack patterns. Mini-bosses are grotesque monstrosities, but the true bosses are humanoid characters akin to the playable roster. That is, until you meet the final boss—a monstrous beast commanding an entire stage to itself. Despite its unforgiving nature, the game thoughtfully provides a safety net for casual players: unlimited continues. Sure, your overall grade will plummet to the lowest possible rank, but it’s refreshing to see an option that lets anyone, regardless of skill, make it through to the end. Better yet, death never sends you back to the start of a stage. You always respawn right where you fell, letting you continue without wasting progress.

15 or so years later I still do not know what you are supposed to do with Tsukiko Final Form's scream+hair attack. Has an alright practice mode (Stage start and boss start, no continues), Easy, Normal, all three Extreme modes. Free Play is available from the start. Allows 2P start in solo so you can use the alternate colors. Does not have story gallery or Dramatic Change mode (For a game with this many story scenarios based on who you are playing as, that seems kind of a shame. I have no idea how they expect people to get all the cheevos for the duo combos. Do you have a friend who likes you enough to run this game 35 times?). The translation is different from the Wii version but does not appear to have been "localized" into inaccuracy, as is the custom, but instead has grammar and punctuation errors which is a more classic custom and far more tolerable, even if it results in some very awkward to read phrases. It also offers only the Japanese dub and better sound quality overall than you could get playing the Wii version The last character is hidden on character select screen and you can select him by [spoiler]highlighting Fumiko and pressing down[/spoiler]. Hardly a spoiler as he's in the training mode select menu but whatever. Does not appear to have any way of viewing score tables, your own or the leaderboards, within the game itself. This is handled through Steam's leaderboard interface, per character, shot type, game mode/difficulty. Due to Valve's inadequacies, the leaderboard interface cannot display the full score so the least significant digit is cut off.

『式神の城III』がついにSteamで発売された。 運命の輪は一周し、銀河に再び平和が戻った。 うれしい！！！

Brilliant game. Thanks to Cosmo Machia and the crowdfunders who made this release possible, preserving it for future gamers.

[h3] ついに出揃った式神の城、第3弾 [/h3] 初代・２とリリースされた後、クラウドファンディングを経てSteamに復活した式神の城3です。 縦型シューティングの中では比較的優しい……ような気もする弾幕キャラクターSTG。 敵の弾にかするほど近寄ることでパワーアップするテンション・ボーナス・システムと、キャラクターごとに特色ある式神攻撃が特徴です。 また、シリーズ通して独特の世界観/キャラクター達が展開するフルボイスのシナリオが稼働当時の人気でもありました。 最大の難点は、本作が”アーケード版の移植”であることです。 かつてのCS/Xbox360版で搭載されていた疑似二人プレイモードが存在せず、一人プレイではキャラクターを二人選んだ際のシナリオを見ることができなくなっています。一定のキャラ人気があったシリーズとしてこの仕様は非常に残念です。 とはいえ、STGとして遊ぶ分には何の問題もありません。弾幕STGのお勧め一本です。