Video Game / Touhou Omen Trilogy

The Touhou Omen Trilogy (or simply The Omen Trilogy) is a series of Touhou Project fangame Role-Playing Games by doujin circle Strawberry Bose. Unlike Touhou Labyrinth, which is influenced more by Etrian Odyssey, The Omen Trilogy is influenced more by Romancing SaGa and the Role-Playing Games made by doujin circle Hachimitsu Kuma-san, with a variety of shout outs to various series.

Although the games have their differences in terms of gameplay, they all share some common elements. Each game is entirely focused around dungeon crawling and exploration to progress with the plot and story. Enemies are found in Pre Existing Encounters and are fought in a turn-based system reminiscent of the first three Final Fantasy games, with each party member possessing a variety of spells and abilities. Each game has a Field Power Effect in the form of the Land Meter, which strengthens and weakens the power of the elements and is affected by elemental spells. The challenge in each game is putting together a party suitable for taking on the very challenging dungeons and boss fights.

There are three main games in the trilogy and two side games. The main games and their expansions are as follows:

• Touhou Soujinengi ~ The Genius of Sappheiros (Eastern Blue God Omen ~ The Genius of Sappheiros, 2010) - Gensokyo is covered by a strange mist that weakens youkai all over Gensokyo. Although reluctant to solve this incident at first, Yukari encourages Reimu to find the source of the mist before youkai blame it on humans and worsen the relations between them.
  • Lingering Summer Heat (2010) - An expansion to the above, in which Gensokyo has fallen into a state of chaos thanks to a mysterious Hate Plague. It is up to Reimu and the one behind the previous incident to work together to find the source of this hatred.
  • Weekend (2012) - An expansion that does not add any new plot, but rebalances various game mechanics.
  • Touhou Soujinengi V ~ The Genius of Sappheiros (2016) - An Updated Re-release of the game, featuring all content from the original game and expansions, but rebalanced, while also adding some additional content in the form of an extra Bonus Dungeon and playable character. Was ported to Steam in October 2022, and received an official English translation in March 2023.
• Touhou Gensoumaroku ~ The Devil of Decline (Eastern Fantasy Demon Record ~ The Devil of Decline, 2011) - With a mysterious timer counting down and a variety of people and places around Gensokyo suddenly missing, Reimu, Yukari, Byakuren, and Meiling attempt to figure out what is causing these things to disappear. It is not long before they are in a race against time to stop a trio of demons from destroying Gensokyo entirely.
  • Matsuri (2012) - Gensokyo is once again placed on the clock to destruction, this time by the acclaimed demon Mima. Reimu, Yukari, Byakuren, and Meiling must team up with the causers of the initial incident in order to save Gensokyo a second time.
  • Touhou Gensoumaruoku W ~ The Devil of Decline (2019) - An Updated Re-release of the game for the Playstation Vita, updating the game with several mechanics and balance changes, similarly to the Soujinengi V.
• Touhou Genmuyoutan ~ The Nightmare of Rebellion (Eastern Dream Rebellion ~ The Nightmare of Rebellion, 2013) - Mysterious doubles of Gensokyo's residents are wandering throughout Gensokyo. Not long after their appearance, Reimu, Marisa, Yukari, and Mamizou are suddenly thrown into what appears to be the Outside World. Meanwhile, the shrine maiden Saya Kurahinata (who looks very similar to Akyuu) is forced to watch as her best friend is kidnapped by youkai. These five come together in order to find out why youkai are running rampant across Saya's hometown and find a way back to Gensokyo.

The side games are as follows:

• Touhou Kadomonsutasu ~ Phantasmal Summoners (Eastern Card Monsters ~ Phantasmal Summoners, 2012) - The spell card rules have been abolished, having been replaced by a monster card dueling system by a mysterious figure. Reimu and Marisa, desiring the old days of danmaku, attempt to find the one behind this in order to bring the spell card system back.
• Touhou Kuesuto ~ Spellcard to Infinite (Eastern Quest ~ Spellcard to Infinite, 2013) - A mysterious portal appears within Akyuu's home, which, if powered by spell cards, leads to mysterious pocket dimensions, some of which contain copies of places and even memories of events from Gensokyo. It is up to Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Byakuren, Nitori, and Youmu to discover what exactly is beyond this mysterious portal and find its source.

The Genius of Sappheiros has its own trope page, which can be found here.

Tropes associated with the entire series:

• Anachronic Order: According to Word of God, Devil of Decline happens before Genius of Sappheiros, with Nightmare of Rebellion taking place after the other two main games.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Genius of Sappheiros especially has this, considering cutscenes show all of your possible party members travelling together. Devil of Decline still has this, but it implies the rest of your party members are hanging at the Hakurei Shrine. Averted in Nightmare of Rebellion, where you only have the five party members you get.
• Background Music Override: The final area of Genius of Sappheiros and Nightmare of Rebellion both have this.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: The series is filled with them, particularly the angel and demon enemies.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Many characters you recruit end up joining after battling them.
• Defend Command: Does the obvious. In Nightmare of Rebellion, it lets characters regenerate extra MP.
• Disc-One Final Dungeon: Each game has at least one.
  • Eientei and the Sea of Clouds/Bhava-agra in Genius of Sappheiros.
  • The Clock Towers of the End in Devil of Decline.
  • The Dream Castle in Nightmare of Rebellion.
• Field Power Effect: The Land Meter in each game serves as this. It affects the power of elemental attacks, causes enemies and party members with regeneration in an element to regenerate HP, and can allow or forbid the use of certain spells.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: From Phantasmal Summoners onwards, the elemental system became this.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Pre-expansion in each game, the Kusanagi is this. It can generally get upgraded to an even more powerful form in each game.
• Item Crafting: Besides treasures and drops, this is the only way to get any sort of equipment.
• Metal Slime: The Yukkuri line of enemies in each game is this.
• Nintendo Hard: With the exception of the introductory dungeons in each game, the difficulty is pretty high in general.
• Original Character: Loads of them, generally ending up being the antagonists of each game.
• Pre-existing Encounters
• Stat Grinding: Not so much in Genius of Sappheiros, but the element levels in Devil of Decline and Nightmare of Rebellion involve this.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Lakebed Temple in Genius of Sappheiros, the Sinister Castle of Chaos in Devil of Decline, and the Tower of Babel in Nightmare of Rebellion.

Tropes associated with The Devil of Decline

• Big Bad: Angra Mainyu in the main game, Mima in the expansion.
• Bigger on the Inside: The Clock Towers of the End and the Sinister Castle of Chaos. The Sinister Castle of Chaos manages to somehow fit an entire town inside of it.
• Combination Attack: After recruiting Akyuu, if every character activates their Last Words all at once, the main character uses a special "Union Last Word."
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Clock Towers of the End are this, along with the Sinister Castle of Chaos.
• For the Evulz: What the Three Demon Pillars claim as the reason for causing the incident. Subverted when Angra shows up before the final dungeon and spells out her plan. Averted entirely in the ending.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Collecting all of the shikigami is optional and there's no reward for getting all of them despite the immense difficulty of getting the rarer ones, but there's always bragging rights.
• Inevitable Tournament: The Demon Arena boss sequence in the expansion is this.
• It Amused Me: The entire reason Angra and the Three Demon Pillars caused the incident was simply because they were bored in Makai and wanted some entertainment.
  • This turns out to also be the reason why Shinki recreated the incident from the main storyline.
• Required Party Member: Whoever you choose as the main character (Reimu, Yukari, Byakuren, or Meiling) cannot leave the party at any time.
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: Shinki liked the premise of the incident in the main game so much she decided to repeat it, fully admitting that it's a complete do-over of the original incident.
• World of Chaos: What Gensokyo ends up turning into thanks to the Three Demonic Pillars.

Tropes associated with The Nightmare of Rebellion

• Alternate Self: Saya is this to Akyuu, in a sense. The Doppels are also this. Nightmare Yukari is this to both the real Yukari and the Dream Yukari who you play as.
• Anachronism Stew: The game is supposed to be taking place in 1912, yet it has a modern day skyscraper and train station, as well as an old-fashioned Chinese-style castle, Egyptian pyramid, Japanese castle, and the Tower of Babel.
• Big Bad: Hakusen Tatsumi appears to be this at first, but then it becomes clear that Muu Monnyan is the one responsible for manipulating dreams.
• Call-Back: Right before fighting Tenshi, the party finds a collapsed Chen (actually a tanuki disguised as Chen) surrounded by miniature craters in the ground, similar to Genius of Sappheiros.
• Dream Weaver: Muu Monnyan, being a tapir, is this.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Getting all of the doppels is this, but just like in Devil of Decline there is no reward for doing so.
• Guns Are Worthless: Averted. Guns are actually more powerful than swords and almost always carry a slayer against Warriors and Magicians, but have terrible accuracy to compensate.
• Living Dream: Both Yukaris that appear in the game are this, being dreamt up by the real Yukari.
• Oh, Crap!: If your character abruptly summons her Main Doppel when being attacked, that means that attack will kills her.
• Scrappy Mechanic: If your character die, her Main Doppel dies with her as well, and unlike your character, Doppel don't get revived after a battle.
• Tower of Babel: The final dungeon of the game.
• Warm-Up Boss: The first few bosses in this game are generally easy and can be beaten in 1-3 turns. Once you obtained all party member though, all bets are off.