A building constructed of wood. The out-of-season call of a frog. The cast-off skins of countless snakes.
She was there. She had always been there. There, with a single human.
Touhou Fuujinrokunote ~ Mountain of Faith is a video game created by Team Shanghai Alice for Windows computers in 2007. It's the tenth videogame installment in the Touhou Project franchise.
A new human shrine maiden appears one day at the Hakurei Shrine, ordering Reimu to either tear it down or turn it over to "the god atop the mountain". Reimu and Marisa decide to scale Youkai Mountain, home to Gensokyo's seclusive tengu and kappa populations, and meet whatever strange god this newcomer answers to.
The first of the "second generation" of Windows games, MoF has a new engine and shrinks the playable cast back down to Reimu and Marisa (but each with three shot types). It's also notable for introducing gods as a major setting element, distinct from youkai.note
This game's signature mechanic is a Faith Meter which slowly depletes over time, but can be refilled by fighting enemies and collecting faith items. The higher the player's Faith, the more their score will increase when collecting items and capturing Spell Cards.
The game's official website can be found here
(in Japanese).
This game provides examples of:
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The premise of this game revolves around faith in the gods, along with Gods Need Prayer Badly.
- Hyperactive Sprite: Hina spins while shooting bullets in all directions. A lot.
- Leitmotif:
- "The Gensokyo the Gods Loved" from this game is often considered the unofficial Leitmotif for Gensokyo itself.
- Aya Shameimaru's theme "Youkai Mountain ~ Mysterious Mountain" is described as being her theme as a tengu, where PoFVs more carefree "Wind God Girl" was her theme as a journalist.
- "The Gensokyo the Gods Loved
- Our Gods Are Different: Gods are the main focus of this game, with the various bosses including Odd Job Gods (the Aki sisters), youkai-like gods (Hina), god-like youkai (the tengu), humans who became gods while alive (Sanae), gods based on one or more dead humans (Kanako), and something akin to a Genius Loci (Suwako).
- Powerup Magnet: The invisible "point of collection" has been buffed - now the player just needs to be near the top of the screen to collect items, without having to focus or increase their Power first.
- Public Domain Character: The Moriya Shrine draws on the mythology of the Suwa region, specifically the clash between the gods Takeminakata (Kanako) and Moreya (Suwako).
- Seasonal Baggage: Mountain of Faith takes place during autumn, so there's a constant fallen leaf motif on top of the first enemies you face being the goddesses of fall, the Aki sisters.
- Smart Bomb: Unlike earlier games, the player doesn't have a separate counter for bombs - instead, bombing reduces your Power by 1. There's some leeway here, as the Power meter caps at 5 but stops upgrading your shot after 4.
- Soft Reboot: The general tone of the series would noticeably shift from this game onwards. New characters would have a much clearer mythological basis, and Gensokyo's world-building would become much more deliberate. Games up until Touhou Shinkirou ~ Hopeless Masquerade would follow a Story Arc sparked by the Moriya Shrine's attempts to integrate, a first for the series.
- The Turret Master: Marisa's Cold Inferno shot type has Attack Drones that fix in place while she's in focus mode.
- Title Drop: Kanako's final spell card on Easy and Normal is titled "Mountain of Faith".
- Villain Has a Point: Reimu actually isn't that opposed to the idea of another god taking over her shrine, since it might be good for business - she's more annoyed at the Moriya Shrine's arrogance, and the absurdity of them wanting to destroy a building that anchors the Great Hakurei Barrier. In the end, she's talked into building a small branch shrine to Kanako on the Hakurei Shrine grounds.
