[Let's Play] Touhou Gensoumaroku: The Devil of Decline~Matsuri!

[Validon98]

Second Stratum- Finale: Hell on Earth

So this is the last update for the second stratum. Well, to start things off, let's see if we can't defeat Xia!



Nope. Still can't defeat Xia. I just soft reset instead of taking another TPK like I deserve for thinking even with the Bulbul, I could do this fight. We'll be back for real later. Like, after Otoha later. Onwards to the other side of Muenzuka, then!



Oh boy, a Wheelcart. They know Hit-and-Run and can inflict Berserk on the entire party. They're extremely fun to fight.



Dancing Heads. They know Tongue, but they don't really have anything to follow that up with, so they're okay. They are weak to Light, I think.



And a Gargoyle. They can inflict Petrify. I don't know what they're weak to.



You know, anywhere else purple cherry blossoms would be weird, but here they fit right in.



Here's a SHINZO. Their actual names are longer, but I'll just call them SHINZOs. They know some Mystic stuff and can lower your elemental resistances. They can be recruited, and they're actually pretty good. I fail to get them in this update, though. 



How many sinners are there?



Huh, a hookshot area. This probably leads somewhere interesting.



Yuyuko! Youmu's been looking for you!



See? She's so happy to see you.



Or she can be pissed for worrying about you. That too.



She went off on her own to check things out, considering that the spiriting away was reaching even the Netherworld.



She, of course, wants to help too.
Not pictured: The party noting that all of Gensokyo seems to be uniting together under the threat of the Three Demonic Pillars, which is a good thing. If we can get all of Gensokyo on our side, there's no way we can lose.



Double fist pump for the recruitment!



And a double sword brandish to go with it! Yuyuko is strictly average in most stats, with slightly better than normal DEX and AGI. Her Last Word inflicts Instant Death on all enemies with a large chance of success. Again, she is going to the bench. Sorry, Yuyuko.
I move onto the Youkai Mountain in the meanwhile. It has whatever your main character's theme is as its theme. So whee, more Shanghai Teahouse~Chinese Tea.



And more dark caves. Wonderful. As if I didn't have enough of that earlier.



Remember these guys from Genius of Sappheiros? They're Zakkumus, and they know Dark attacks yet are weak to the usual plant weaknesses plus Light, I think.



In the back is a Peri. It can Berserk you and knows some Chasers, but is weak to Electric and Pierce. It is recruitable, but I don't care to get it.



Ugh, Ratoshikamuis. They can inflict Blind, which is actually not too bad when. If the Peris inflict Berserk on Patchy and it's overwritten by Blind, then Patchy can still get off Thunderclap. Yeah. They're weak to Electric and I think Pierce, but I'm not sure.



Make yourself right at home. It has some status effects and provides 50% Charm resist, but I just don't care.



So, let's see that Last Word of yours, Eiki.




666 damage is enough to one-shot most things at this point. Welcome to the team, Eiki.



Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. Not quite yet.



That's a Nasunasu. It's a giant. The usual weaknesses apply. I don't know what they do.



How many new areas are there?



Oh. The Hell of Blazing Fires. Well, this is actually the last area to explore. So let's do this! With that good Walking the Streets of a Former Hell remix!



There's a Fire and a Hell Hound. Both are weak to Water, and both use Fire attacks. Makes sense.



Oh boy, a Sorcerer and two Caviars. The Caviars can use HDD Crash, but they're so slow in doing it that Thunderclap gets them before they have a chance. The Sorcerer is more dangerous, as she can cast spells like Starlight Whip and Dark Lure.



Another sealed thing. We'll be able to unseal it soon enough.



Caviars are recruitable! They start with HDD Crash and Fire Breath as well as 25% resistance to Removal. Nope. Don't care enough.



And a Zombiesaurus, which is weak to Fire and Light, like any good undead creature. Star Hand and Thunderclap bring it down easily enough. It can use Benevolence Wall, though, so be careful.



Hmm?



And here's the Release Formula, which allows us to unlock those barriers!



Gah, a Salamander! These guys are pretty damn tough, plus they have deadly Fire Breath. They're weak to Ice.
I barely survived this encounter, by the way.



And here's the Yukkuri Sisters! They can use Energy Hand and such, but aren't too much of a threat. The only problem with them is that, like their metal cousins, they like to run away. I manage to kill this one, however, so that's good! Plenty of XP to go around.



Utsuho? You're still here? She's actually saying "Unyu?" That's cute, right?



It takes her a while to recognize Nitori, even though the two have met previously.



Apparently the spiriting away spread to here as well. That's way Satori and Orin were missing. And Koishi, but she's always missing.



Upon hearing that we found Orin and Satori, she becomes pretty happy.



We explain that we're going after the Three Demonic Pillars.



She wants in as well! Well, sorry Utsuho, I'm not using you either. She's basically your red mage, with decent STR, AGI, and INT. However, she's a glass cannon in multiple ways. Her Last Word is a goddamn Mystic nuke against everything, but even that doesn't make up for the fact that she can't take a hit. Bench time for you, Okuu.



Impale Charge. It's a row-piercing attack. I'll replace Leg Sweep on Nitori with this.



Well, time to do this.



Apparently this crack in the ground isn't natural. It's from a battle.



Murasa! Crap, she doesn't look too good!



Who the hell are you and what did you do to Murasa?



He's an assassin that was sent by Demotorowa, the guy guarding the second tower. Uh, hate to break it to you, but your master's dead.



He himself is Gurowaru. Apparently he and Murasa ran across each other, and he attacked her. The resulted battle proved too much for Murasa, and she slipped into shikigami form. So, shikigami form comes from being physically weakened, huh?



Well, you hurt Murasa, so now you pay with your blood.



Dude you look nothing like your field sprite. He's Light elemental, but he is still resistant to Dark like the other demons. This could be bad.



He knows Blunt skills, can inflict Silence, and can do this, which not only hurts a ton, but also dispels Variety effects. My buffs!



Damn it, not again...
Besides this, his attacks hit hard, but he's otherwise fine to deal with. I barely manage to finish him off with the combined power of poison and physical attacks.



Get out.



Murasa's wounded. Crap.



It seems like she'll be fine, but she's now a shikigami. Crap.



Meiling agrees to let her onboard. Hurray! Murasa is a very good character. She specialty is field effects, which are specials effects that apply to everyone on the field. There can only be one of such effect at a time, so be careful with them. She starts off with Colosseum, which negates all healing for everyone. I guess that could negate the enemy's healing, which could be useful. She also grants +5% field casting speed. I need to figure out where to put her.
Offscreen, I also check out the other side of Eientei. It has some higher leveled fairy warriors. Nothing major. I get some recipes for my troubles. I also check out Bhava-agra again, as I missed some treasure there as well. That's all.



Here's my levels by the way, Serela. I know you wanted to see them. And that's it for the second stratum! Next time we head on down to the third and final stratum, where hopefully we'll find Otoha and put a stop to this incident.

Summary:

Treasures: Youkai's Memories, Pretty Mirror x2, Frozen Soil Ring, Light Shard, Legacy of the Gods, Water Shard, Stardust Shard, Ring of Starry Worlds, Spirit Stone, Steel x2, Bamboo, Electric Shard, Fire Shard, Sword Mastery, Rock, Release Formula, Iron, Blunt Mastery, Dark Shard, Rorika Hamata (Mokou), Spear Mastery, Sacred Ring. Silver Hammer

Skills: Curse (Lunasa), Professional Vacation (casts Decoy on self, Momiji), Demon Blast (a column 90 power Dark attack that can only be used when the Light/Dark land meter is neutral or further towards Dark, Lesser Demon), Polar Blast (a 70 power all-targeting Water spell that can inflict Freeze, Yuki-onna), Starlight Web (90 power all-targeting Light spell, Star), Thunderclap (Prescott), Impale Charge (Nitori)

Passives: 25% Breath Reduction (Yuki-onna)

Recipes: The 50% elemental resist and land regen with a weakness to the opposite element accessory upgrades, which eliminate the weakness yet keep the land regen effect, Material Sets B and C (The elemental shards, made from Broken Treasures)

TPKs: 0 this update, 8 overall
Frustration: Low. PROGRESS!!!

[Serela]

Peri! Now that chasers are weaker, Peris are mostly not very good, but they do provide several chaser skills and a +1 to chaser activations (You also get more chaser activations from dex... I -think-? But the point you get another activation is pretty high; well past the three digits mark)

There's a reason Peri could be considered for usage later in the game.

A little more on Yuyuko; while her stats are indeed mostly just average, with sliiightly higher VIT/POT and good DEX/AGI, being average+ all over actually turns out being a pretty good thing. She's a solid character and has one of the highest stat totals, up there with Meiling and Nitori. (Except her MP isn't really low like theirs; albiet, not a -lot- higher either)

HDD Crash's success rate is based on your level vs the enemy's level.

[theshirn]

While I understand the chaser nerfs, it still makes me very sad that Peri went from godly to mostly ignorable.

[Validon98]

Third Stratum- Part 1: Wherein the RNG Hates Me

So, it's time for the third stratum. Once we deal with this and Otoha, we just have to beat Xia and the incident's resolved! So let's do this!



Makai 1 of the third stratum. Wait a minute, is that Alice Maestra as the Makai theme?
Game, sometimes I love you. Sometimes.




The gimmick of this first room is wind. If you go down a certain path the wrong way, you end up being blocked by the wind. The puzzle is to figure out the proper path to follow, which will allow you to get your way to the exits.



And our battle theme for the third stratum is Bad Apple!!
Note: I do not like the fact that the person that posted this version of the OST uses such... revealing pictures. When I see Elly, I don't want to see her panties. Honestly...
Anyways, these guys are Papirusagus. They are weak to Water, but can use Poison Zapper, which hurts like hell.



This exit leads to the next part of Makai 1. It's also the most annoying thing to actually get through without the wind being there. This gave me so many troubles.



And a Dragon Maid. She's a dragon, so she's resistant to the usual elements. She is recruitable, though she's not one of the shikigami I care about.



This is technically Makai 2. I'll take care of it, I guess.



Mummies. They're undead, but I forget what they can do. Maybe they can inflict Curse? I don't exactly remember.



Ugh, Rafureshias. They can inflict instant-death with their normal attacks, but they are weak to anything plants are normally weak to.



And a Medusa. It can use Stare, which inflicts Petrify, and Minus, which deals 666 flat damage. Obviously they need to be killed quickly.



That's a New Mr. Makai in the back. I think it works like the earlier Mr. Makai, but it's stronger.



That's a weird cave.



Another staircase? But there's only three strata...



It leads to absolutely nowhere. I can just imagine it ending in the endless void that the World of Chaos seems to be floating in. Let's not go down, shall we?



That thing in the back? It's a Desert Burei. It knows stuff like Tail Chop and is a fricking tank. This sort of encounter is essentially death.



There's an Allosaurus in the back, and I believe it can use Tail Chop. It's weak to Water, I believe.



Uh...



That's a huge screen full of nothing.



Wait a minute, I was just here! What the hell?



That area was apparently Makai 5. I guess we can't go through there yet. It seems like it would lead into that middle area we haven't been able to access yet... strange.



Back in Makai 2, we find this unnatural fissure in the ground. What could have caused this?



Suddenly there's roaring and the screen starts shaking. Damn it, not another demon!



Wait a minute, that's Flandre! What the hell are you doing here?




She mistook us for demons for a second, but she recognizes us, thankfully. We could totally use your destructive powers right now, Flandre. Maybe you could insta-kill the Three Demonic Pillars, or just knock down the Clock Towers of the End.



She claims herself more powerful than Remilia. Then Nitori has to be a snarky bitch like usual and say Remilia is stronger.



Don't kill us, Flandre! Damn it Nitori, why do you have to piss off everyone? Thankfully, she decides to come with us. She is an absolute demon on the battlefield (sounds like Arngrim) and is a master of Fire attacks. She starts with Lavateinn (a 200 power Fire column attack), Detonate (a 60 power AoE Fire attack), and Eruption. She also provides +5% power to Fire attacks. She's going on Meiling, however. Why? She has one of the highest STR boosts in the game, along with two other shikigami we'll be getting on the third stratum. So, she's partially going to just be a stat booster, but her Fire attacks are powerful as well.



No, I want to go to the rest of Makai 1! Eventually I figure out the path I need to take in order to get through her reliably. Took damn long enough.



Two new enemies, the Manuscript and the Assassin. The Manuscript has a high magic defense and is immune to Light and Dark, but it is ridiculously weak to Fire and Slash. That Flaming Sword I made for Mokou can cut through these guys like butter. They are also recruitable, and I actually want them. The Assassin is weak to Light, but boasts a powerful poison which can take off 100 health per turn. They're extremely dangerous, so end the battle quickly when they're around.




Lavateinn, you're so awesome.



The Dragon Maid joins. She starts with breath attacks of the four basic elements as well as 25% resistance to the four basic elements. Not using her for right now.



Oh crap, a Power. These guys are weak to Dark, but know Ectoplasm Net, which has a high chance of inflicting Instant Death. Kill them quickly!



These Namutarus aren't too bad, but they know a lot of debuffs. They're weak to Earth, I think, and maybe Fire, but I don't know.



Okay, a straw doll. That has a nail in it. That's not disturbing. It's another recruitment flag.



Ladies and gentleman, the unluckiness of having the Power using Ectoplasm Net twice in a row!



Anywhere to get away from those Powers.



Anywhere but hereeeeeeeeeeeeeee... I still have to get some stuff in Makai 1 anyways.



Nitori learns Brandish, which is a column attack like Pole Swing, but has "medium" power instead of "parallel." Honestly, I still don't understand what parallel power means, but Brandish seems to be an improvement.
I manage to finish my business in Makai 1 and head off to the Forest of Magic. I never posted it's theme when we were there in the prologue, so here it is. It's a remix of The Witch's Ball~Magusfrom Immaterial and Missing Power. Okay then.



We've got a Gorgon Ball up top (weak to Pierce, knows Petrification moves) and a Dekkuarubu (weak to Light, can inflict Charm, not too threatening). The Gorgon Ball can be recruited, but again I don't care.



And a Doryuadesu. It knows some Earth attacks and can use Leaf Shield. It's recruitable, but I'm not really sure if I want it or not.



Uh. That's a Rakushashi. It can attack 2-3 times per turn. It looks threatening but it isn't. But it's Middle Eastern again. What's with the Middle Eastern monsters everywhere?



And a Unicorn. It can use Electric attacks and it can use Starlight Barrier to protect the entire enemy party from one attack. It can be recruited.



Oh there you are, Alice!



Nitori, why did you call Alice a doll freak? Nitori has really pissed off everyone so far.



Stop that, Nitori!



Alice threatens to turn Nitori into a doll. At this rate, I'm completely fine with that.



Nitori, stop saying you were only joking. Your jokes are pissing everyone off.



Meiling steps in just in time to recruit Alice. She's all about shield skills like she was in Genius of Sappheiros. She starts with Little Legion (makes the user immune to all attacks, but has a high MP cost and a cooldown of 5 turns), Magic Defense (the magical equivalent of Physical Defense), and Element Shield Wall (blocks a single element with a shield). She also grants +5% Shield Evasion, which is pretty nice. Once I actually attempt to reorganize my shikigami, she'll go on Mokou.



Thankfully, we're out of the forest.



And right in the Misty Lake. Moving along.



Just die already.



Oh hey, you finally got recruited. She knows some good Earth attacks as well as Leaf Shield. She also grants 25% resistance to Electric and Earth. I'll think about it.



See that turn counter? I spent all of those turns trying to RUN AWAY. Really game? You don't let me run for 12 straight turns? The RNG loathes me! I swear that the more times you run away between saves, the smaller and smaller the run away chance gets!



It's times like these that I just want to do this to the game.



Finally, you've shown up. PC-98 Marisa here knows some Mystic attacks, but she's not too hard to take down.



Like Daiyousei, she has a 100% recruitment chance. She starts out with Rainbow Ray and Energy Riot, an 80 power single-target Mystic attack and a 95 power all-targeting Mystic attack respectively, as well as a +5% boost to Mystic attacks. I need to put her on, but I've got to figure out where to put her.



Goddamn long hookshot area. We'll return.
That does it for now. Next time we continue on to the Misty Lake and hopefully finish most of the rest of the third stratum considering we've actually gotten through almost half of it.

Summary:

Treasure: Iron x3, Dark Shard x2, Person's Wisdom, Pretty Mirror x3, Broken Treasure (Drop), Steel x4, Rock x3, Bamboo x3, Rosary of Fortitude II, Quick Wood, Magic Illusion Stone x2, Silver x3, Amulet of Inanna (drop), Legacy of the Gods, Light Shard, Red Robe, Amulet of Mephesto (drop), Anklet of Protection II (Mokou), Spear of Taima (Nitori), Meteor Shard, Mystic Shard x3, Barrier Earrings II, Begaruta (Meiling), High-Grade Fur, Spirit Stone, Ancient Purification Thing, Ashoka Hammer (Eiki), Mink Coat (Eiki), Mercury Drop

Skills Learned: Stradivarius (a Large - physical attack that scales with level and inflicts Paralysis, Lunasa), Element Shield Wall (Mining Village), Stun Blow (Eiki), Shock Burst (Eiki), Brandish (Nitori), Dark Zapper (a powerful Dark elemental column attack, Lesser Demon)

Recipes: The upgrades to the status resisting accessories, Auto Clear (Autobomb???), Gajaruga, Bardiche, Meteor Iron Shield, Cotton Shell

Synthesis Done: Flaming Sword (Mokou), that Lightning Speak whose actual name I don't remember (Nitori)

TPKs: 2 this update, 10 overall
Frustration: High. The RNG is a bitch. That's all I have to say about that.

[Serela]

Progress is progress is progress! Ranting is also good to help point non-obvious things out to people who aren't familiar with the game. Lessee here.

Manuscript gets some kind of magic defense buff which is nifty, and I think has resistance passive for light/dark. Dragon Maid's elemental resist passive eventually upgrades, along with Breath power increase and a single target All-Up buff; the resists and buff are why she's popular. Her breaths are very weak but very cheap, and used to be popular to activate chasers. After those got nerfed, though...

...nothing else in particular comes to mind.

[Validon98]

I wanted to get the Manuscript for the buff, obviously.
Also, I screenshotted the next update already, but I'm thinking about making it a super long one (probably the longest one yet) to just finish the third stratum, and then I'm going to do the Clock Tower afterwards. I'm full of energy, and even though I've been hitting some bumps, I just have this drive to keep going.
If I do a Genius of Sappheiros LP after this, I'm probably not going to have as much of a drive.
Please watch warmly...

[homing curvy laser]

One notable thing about SHINZO is that most of the time, he will start a turn by using some weird thing that has a high chance to cancel your spell casting. That thing also always goes first. And at least in older versions, it also canceled running from battles (I don't remember if it still does that). Fun times for everyone!

Manuscript also learns a Mystic chaser really later on, which used to be a good thing because it was considerably stronger than the rest of the elemental chasers, but since they all got nerfed it doesn't make much of a difference anymore.

[Hanzo K.]

If you are gonna LP GoS, you may as well do Weekend. It'll be easier on you that way.
Plus, I'm interested in seeing how you'll use the Bonus Characters.

[Validon98]

If you are gonna LP GoS, you may as well do Weekend. It'll be easier on you that way.

No. Shit. The majority of my first playthrough was on Lingering Summer Heat only. I only got Weekend at the Lakebed Temple. Yeah. Would've been a lot more useful earlier...
Also, bonus characters? As in the expansion ones?
The big update has finished being screenshotted. Yeah, it's the rest of the third stratum.
I somehow did it all in one day.
...Wow.
Uploading is beginning now. 86 pictures, minus whatever I decide to toss out while uploading. That's the most screenshots I've had for one update.

[Serela]

Bonus character...

...if only Akyu was finally added in on weekend. I mean, she has a full battle sprite sheet and last word cut-in?! But alas, that would have been too good to be true.

[Hanzo K.]

Yeah, the expansion characters. I'm looking forward to how you fit them into a team.

But yeah, Weekend's hella useful. And it's a cryin' shame about Akyu not bein' playable.

[Reddyne]

This sorta stuff has me lusting over the in-process translation patch.

[Validon98]

Third Stratum- Finale: Faster than a Speeding Tengu



See this map? This is where we left off last time. We're going to fill it in this update. Completely (besides the totally unimportant spot in the middle). So off to the Misty Lake! It has Year-Round Absorbed Curiosity as a theme. Makes more sense here than it did for Heaven's Falls.



Winter Wolves here are weak to Fire and can use Cold Breath, which actually doesn't do that much damage anymore. Granted, it was powerful a while ago.



Three more new enemies on top of that! The Ice Tower I think can use either Benevolence Wall or some sort of shield skill, the Ice Fly knows Water Chase (which really isn't that bad), and the Water is like any other elemental-like enemies we've been facing. They're all weak to Fire.



It's a block of ice. So that's what katamari means (a block or clump)! Well, considering I've played Katamari Damacy, that makes sense.



Apparently it's gotten colder. What's the worst that can happen? Besides getting frostbite, or something.



Whoa, holy crap! Where'd that come from?!



Whoever it is, she's pissed she missed.



Of course it's Cirno. Apparently she thinks we're in league with the Three Demonic Pillars. Really?



Are you really going to attack us? Hey, look through the mist, damn it! It's us!



I think she just got called stupid, or something. It's hard to follow a conversation in Japanese.



Now she realizes it's just us. Took you long enough.



Meiling lets Cirno know that we're also after the Three Demonic Pillars, and she agrees to come with us. She's all about Water spells, obviously, starting with Cold View and Polar Blast as well as a 5% boost to water damage. Bench. Now.



This shouldn't need an explanation.



Crap, an Undine. She's weak to Fire, but she's got insanely powerful Water attacks.



I manage to recruit her after my first battle with her. She's also a Water based shikigami with some healing, but I'm sticking with the Yuki-onna for Water stuff.



There's an Iceberg Turtle, which is weak to Fire but is physically strong. Flandre, you're up.



Is this really necessary?



We're finally done with this lake. You haven't seen it, but the gimmick of this dungeon is hidden portals to other rooms. It's not too bad, but if you go into the wrong portal near the end, you end up right back at the beginning. Fun.



Of course the Makai areas are still annoying to navigate.



These Death Stalkers here are weak to Water, I think. I forget what they do. They're not too bad, though.



These Summoners, on the other hand, are dangerous in that they can summon monsters to help them. I believe they might be weak to Dark, and they're slow enough in summoning that you can kill them off before they summon anything crazy.



And Hell Scissors too. They know Drill, but they're not too bad. They're weak to Electric, so Thunderclap just roughs them up more than it roughs up other monsters.



Makai 3 is small. Like really small.



Hang on, we'll frolic in the Weeping Lily Meadow in a minute.
Wait, wrong game. I meant the Nameless Hill. Well, I think the Weeping Lilies in Valkyrie Profile are suzuran. The two look similar enough.



Another exit. Really?



Uh, the Sanzu River? Well, if I stay too long in the Nameless Hill, I'll probably end up here too. Nevertheless, there's still a little more to do in Makai 3.



Oh, a boss. Wonderful.
Okay, I'm not going to sugarcoat it or anything. That boss in there? There's no way I can beat it at this point. He's just that impossible. I didn't even beat him in the main game in my first run, mainly because I forgot he existed. Then I came back in the expansion, gave him what for, and was done with it. He's not required to beat the game or anything, so we're going to save him for much later. Sorry. Let's head to the Nameless Hill, as it's a dead end area and I want to get it out of the way. Finally, Poison Body ~ Forsaken Doll has a fitting place to be a theme!



Why don't you die? By the way, all Yukkuri are recruitable, but their recruit chances are terrible, being like 1/256 or something. There's no way I'm recruiting one.



Oh look, a Zombie Dragon. Whee, more Valkyrie Profile memories. While we don't have the Dragon Slayer to deal with these guys, we've got Light attacks in the form of the awesome Star Hand.



...This is real, right? I'm really seeing a helicopter and a dude who looks like he spent way too much time at a gym recently?
...Crap. The helicopter is a Mangusuta, which is weak to Water but boasts powerful physical attacks. The Monk knows Mardi Gras Buster, but he's not too bad, since he's weak to Dark.



And there's a Poison Lily. It can inflict some pretty strong poison, so kill it quickly.



This is another long hookshot area. I think it's the last one in the third stratum.



Medicine?



How the hell did you get in there?



Apparently she got caught in that cage. Why the hell would a cage be there like that? Also, she's pissed because she got called as dumb as Cirno. Well, you are a doll...



She's also pissed off at the Three Demonic Pillars, because if they destroy Gensokyo, then the suzaran will be gone too.



She agrees to put off her Doll Liberation plans (which I've heard plenty of from Sengoku Gensokyo and the fanfiction Do the Right Thing) to help us out! She's a pure Earth based shikigami with Poison and Lethal Poison (65 power single-target Earth spell with a chance to poison) and 50% resistance to Poison. Given the nature of an upcoming boss, I'll put her on Patchy. Meanwhile, we move on to the Sanzu River. Which has the same theme as the Misty Lake. This is one case where I'm not too excited for theme recycling.



These guys are new, of course. The Specter is highly resistant to physical attacks and it can inflict Control. The Stone Tower of Three Roads is weak to Earth, but knows some shield skills. The enemies keep getting more and more annoying, don't they?



The gimmick of the Sanzu River is these streams, which are one-way passages.



These whirlpools serve as portals between different areas. The first time I came through here, I was confused and used a guide. I haven't really relied on a guide for exploration this time, though. Maybe it's because I don't mind fighting monsters as much?



Crap, Ninjas. They know Decapitate, which inflicts Instant Death. They're weak to Light, though, so Eiki can take them out with Starlight Web.



Did I mention they were recruitable? They start with Decapitate and Samidare Slash, as well as 50% resistance to poison and instant death, but I don't care enough. So long, Ninja.



Oh shit, a Lich. Liches can cast Dark Lure and Dark Web. Dark Web will TPK you.



See?



And a Oshirasama. It's a plant-type, so Fire and Slash are the way to go. I forget what they do.



Why is it I'm getting all of the shikigami that I didn't really get the first time I played this? Regardless, she's all about field effects. She starts with Osendaku, which is an unoverwritable field that has no other effect (which essentially prevents someone from using their fields until it runs out) as well as Jammer, which raises resistance to a single element by two levels. Osendaku will actually be useful for a few boss fights, as there are some bosses with Jammer, which can be very annoying. She also decreases casting speed for field effects by 15%. She'll be on the bench for now, but she'll become useful much, much later.



Shizuha! Your sister's been worried about you, I'm sure! She uses some poerful Earth attacks, but Electric takes her down easily. She almost TPKs my party, though, so be careful.



She joins, which is actually pretty damn good. She currently only has Heat Weapon and Earth Wall, along with +5% Variety effect casting speed, but she'll get Foreign Blast later on, which makes all of your party members immune to the next magic attack they receive. This is a godsend for later bosses. There's another shikigami we can get with the physical equivalent of this spell, but we missed her. We'll go back later to get her.



Finally off the damn boat, although there is something I missed.




The exit only leads to Makai 4 anyways, so we'll just get the thing we missed.



Is it just me, or should shadows have bodies attached to them?



Yeah, this sure is suspicious.



What the!?



HOLYCRAPYOU'REBRIGHT!



Apparently the ball of light said that it was friends with us.



Sanae remembers now! From Undefined Fantastic Object (she says from the Treasure Ship Incident)!



Aha! Nue! Using a Seed of Non-Identification, weren't you? So, how's it been going?



Apparently she's been looking for Murasa on her own. She wants to prove herself useful or loyal to Byakuren.



We let Nue know that we've found Murasa, and she is pretty happy. She agrees to come along with us regardless, as she wants to help stop the Three Demonic Pillars. She starts with Detonate, Toxic Cloud, Cold View, and Thunderclap, along with having 25% resistance to the four basic elements. I haven't replaced anyone with her, but I might replace Hatate with her later. We move onto Makai 4 in the process.



Don't fall in.



These guys are Senmuruvus. They're weak to Electric and Pierce like all birds, and they can use Perfect Chase, which really isn't that threatening, considering Mokou is a goddamn tank.



Oh no, it's Kanako. Ugh. Hate to break it to anyone who likes her but, well, I don't like her. She's caused almost every incident since Mountain of Faith directly or indirectly, including Gensokyo almost getting nuked, two religious figures being unsealed or revived (I don't mind Byakuren, but I kind of mind Miko) and because you cause so many incidents, the Human Village is in a state of nihilism, and religious war is about to break out. All because you want faith. Plus your Spell Cards are pains in the ass to handle. I hate you so much.



Nitori is glad that Kanako's okay, I guess. They have been collaborating in the whole technological revolution thing, so that makes sense, at least.



Kanako's amazed at how much being spirited away takes away from her godly strength. Yep, you're level one like all the other shikigami to start out with. Deal with it.



She's also somewhat worried about Suwako, I think. She of course also wants to see Sanae grow. So she's coming with us. There's a lot more to this conversation, but I didn't really get any of it. It involved Mokou somehow. Anyways, Kanako is a physical based shikigami with a huge STR boost and some of the largest stat boosts overall. She starts with Meteoric Onbashira (Medium power attack that hits all enemies and scales with level), Coil, and Missile. She also has a 1% chance of negating a magic attack. She's going on Meiling as a stat booster, and nothing more.



They all manage to run away, but I immediately get into another battle with the same formation of them and kill them all. What.



It was around here that I actually bothered to put Medicine on Patchy. Let's grind her and Kanako up a bit, shall we?



The Poison Blob can inflict poison, but is weak to Fire. Okay then.



Mokou learns Wolf Fang, which has Slayer against reptiles and beasts! Awesome.



Crap, run away, run away! The Earth Dragon is resistant to pretty much everything except maybe Electric (I don't really remember), and it knows the second tier of breath attacks. It nearly TPKs my party before I luckily manage to run away.



Told you we'd get the map filled in. We just have to deal with that guard and we've got full access to the final Clock Tower. Let's go!



Otoha like flowers, I guess.



Yep Nitori, it's the last tower. Although we still need to deal with Xia after this.



This guy? He's Kakuyokudaibu. He's Electric. He has drums that go along with his movements. Do we need to say anything else?



Oh boy, this guy is a bit tough. He's all about Electric, as I've said. So he's weak to Earth, but not to Light, as I've found out. Oh well.



He can use Vaccum Slash, I think. It hits hard. Because of it, Meiling and Nitori stay dead for most of the fight, regardless of Eiki's attempts at reviving them.



Mokou learns Demonbane! Okay, now I don't want to lose. Demonbane has slayer against Angels, Demons, and Transcendents, which is really good.
Thankfully, though, the dude goes down with the power of the poison Nitori inflicted earlier as well as attacks from Patchy and Mokou.



"Oh how could I lose" blah blah blah.



Shaking and roaring, along with some drum beats. And we'll never see him again.



Inside the tower is a nice looking statue of Otoha and another expansion seal. That Release Formula won't release the seal, of course.



And we get a cute picture of Otoha on the map for our troubles. Well, that makes the third stratum complete (besides the boss I'm not going for yet)! Next time, we finish off this Clock Tower of the End and then go after Xia. Then the incident should be resolved! Gee, that was rather fast.

Summary:

Treasure: Magic Illusion Stone, Rock x2, Purification Ceremony Tool, Water Shard x2, Aconite Guarder (Eiki), Plate Mail (Mokou), Rubber, Silver, Keen Pendant II (Patchy), Meteor Shard x3, Electric Shard x3, Iron x2, Mercury Drop, Pretty Mirror x2, Bracelet of Starting Break x2, Fire Shard x2, Dark Shard, Person's Wisdom, Necklace of Strength II (Meiling), Bamboo x2, Rainbow Robe, Earth Shard x2, Steel, Sage's Staff, Muffler of Evasion, Light Shard, Gale Boots II, Desutorakuto Protector (Eiki)

Skills Learned: Moonlight Ray (90 power wide penetrating Dark spell that's highly influenced by the Land, Rumia), Explosion (Eiki), Shooting Sapphire (1-4 40 power Light single-target attacks, with the number of attacks increasing the further the Land is tilted towards Light, Star), Burst Shock (Patchy), Wolf Fang (Mokou), Toxic Cloud (85 power AoE Earth attack, Medicine), Hard Hit (Eiki), Demonbane (Mokou), Increase (Shihuza)

Passives: 50% Critical Prevention (Tewi), 25% resistance to Berserk, Charm, and Control (Nishiki), 25% Earth resist (Medicine)

Recipes: The 50% elemental accessory resistance upgrades, Sword of Thunder, Kiyuberei, Hammer of Heat, BD-ROM, Sage's Robe, Full-Moon Shield, Royal Leather, Magic Plate Mail, Super Sexy Underwear, Cockatrice Crown, Basilisk Eye

Synthesis Done: Bardiche (Patchy), some sword that I forget (Meiling), Kiyuberei (Nitori), Royal Leather (Eiki), Magic Plate Mail (Mokou, now she is the ultimate tank), Hammer of Heat (Eiki)

TPKs: 1 this update, 11 overall
Frustration: In the middle. It took a while to do this, but I'm happy I got it done. Let's finish this!

Spoiler:

Maybe. We'll see.

[homing curvy laser]

Oh, a boss. Wonderful.
Okay, I'm not going to sugarcoat it or anything. That boss in there? There's no way I can beat it at this point. He's just that impossible. I didn't even beat him in the main game in my first run, mainly because I forgot he existed. Then I came back in the expansion, gave him what for, and was done with it. He's not required to beat the game or anything, so we're going to save him for much later.

That's the earth demon, isn't it? I remember having some trouble with him, but in the end I won without too much trouble by spamming electric attacks and dispelling his buffs whenever he got too carried away. I didn't even know about Prescott's ability to make your attacks against weaknesses deal more damage back then, and I suppose that thanks to this this guy shouldn't pose a threat at all.

Also, Otoha~ why are you so pretty, Otoha. I like how the next dungeon won't feel as bad as it should simply because she's watching you all the time.

[Serela]

Undine's move Aquarius Age is a really powerful magic-damage-reduction buff to the party. The description says it has a short duration (I think), but it lasts a good while, so I don't see. She also gets the powered up version of Increase, and a decent power Water attack later.

However, for all the good she can do, she doesn't learn any of this nifty stuff for a long while; 28 she just gets the attack so she's not terrible (it's nothing special by the time you get it, just nice), and the actual perk skills are 40 and 50. Late bloomer.

Anyway, don't forget about the two new characters who appear after you unveil the middle area :D

So, that boss you skipped is the one that buffs up and then destroys you, right? Just use dispel (star sapphire) and your own buffs like Earth Wall, and he shouldn't be -too- bad. Then again, maybe I'm forgetting something.

[Validon98]

You're right about the boss. I don't like him one damn bit.

Anyway, don't forget about the two new characters who appear after you unveil the middle area

Hush hush, spoilers, damn it!

Spoiler:

I know about them, and of course I'm not going to forget them. I'm going to spend the update after beating Xia doing that.

Even though it's late where I am, I'm still working on the third Clock Tower of the End, although I probably won't upload the update until tomorrow. It will be sort of big, but not by that much.

[Validon98]

Well, it looks like I won't get the update up until later. I still have to finish screenshotting stuff, but I have to do some work first. I'll be back later today hopefully when I'm all done with rl stuff.
I have finished the tower itself, I just have to beat Otoha. I will get that done today, along with Xia, hopefully.

[Validon98]

Clock Tower of The End- Part 3: Tower of Flower

Let's get through the final Clock Tower of the End and take down Otoha! The music's the same as always. It doesn't get old, in my opinion.



The area itself is quite nice looking, but is also a maze of these platforms. We have to be very careful not to get lost, although it's not that bad.



A boss fight already? Well, let me just tell you that the boss fight is entirely optional. You don't even have to do it to get to Otoha. However, I'll take care of it soon enough, just to get it out of the way.



New enemies, as always. The Saladins know some advanced Slash skills like Samidare Slash, Comet Assault Sword, and Emperor's Brandish, but are weak to Dark. The Peryutons are forgettable. They're weak to Fire.



Ah, a Wizard and a Dragon Fly! The Wizard knows some more advanced spells (Starlight Whip, Lethal Poison, etc.) while the Dragon Fly knows a somewhat powerful Fire breath. It's weak to Water and Electric, for whatever reason.



Blackbeards, which I've heard are from Shin Megami Tensei. They can inflict Berserk, are weak to Fire and Water, I think, and have a good chance of reflecting your physical attacks back at you. As it happens, they can be recruited, but I fail to get one here.




This is what happens when you go out the wrong doorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...



This spot here? Remember it for later.



This room I'm in here? This is where that boss fight is supposed to be. You can actually enter it from a different path, and it doesn't put you into the boss fight. Really, game? Really?



*sigh* Let's go in the right way, then.



Shou and Nazrin! We haven't really heard of what happened to you guys. So, what's the matter?



...I forget why she did this.



Nitori, where did you get that cheese from? Actually, don't answer that. Please.



Nazrin knows that Otoha is indeed in the tower. Gee, like we already didn't know that from the statues and pictures of her everywhere!



That's the second time you've fallen for that, Nazrin. Really?



Shou, wait a minute, what do you mean "Go home, we're taking care of this"? Excuse me, we're a five-strong group with most of Gensokyo sitting in our back pockets! You're a two-strong group of people with no shikigami whatsoever to help you out.



Okay okay, we've had to fight a few other Touhou characters so far. We fought Nitori and Sunny because they thought we were related to the incident. I'm fine with that. That sort of thing happened in IaMP, PoFV, SWR, and Soku. In fact, attacking random people is the whole process of incident resolution! Yuka attacked us because she wanted to do it by herself. Okay, I'm fine with that too, because she's belligerent and also happens to be one of the strongest youkai in all of Gensokyo, so okay, fine. Eiki attacked us because she wanted to make sure we were strong enough to deal with the Three Demonic Pillars. Understandable, because they're powerful enemies.
You two are attacking us even though we outmatch you in every way, shape, and form, because you think you are more prepared to deal with the Three Demonic Pillars than we are? Bullshit! This is ludicrous! This is the stupidest excuse for having a boss fight with Nazrin and Shou ever! At least it made sense in Genius of Sappheiros to fight Nazrin, because of the malice! But here? No reason! How stupid can this game get!?



Here's who's going to save us, everyone! A tiger and a mouse! Give them a hand as I cut them to ribbons for their stupidity.
Shou is weak to Dark, and Nazrin is weak to Fire. Nazrin can buff them but does little much else, while Shou attacks with Light elemental attacks and the occasional Nine Million Volts, which either does single-digit damage or puts your HP in the single-digits.




Their weakness getting hit. They go down easily, although Mokou gets knocked out due to Nine Million Volts and a follow-up attack the next turn.



You so don't have it handled.



Our saviors, ladies and gentlemen. Reduced to ghostly forms that are bound to cease to exist if they don't find someone to help them.



We agree to help them (and of course, they apologize for their stupidity). Shou is a Light based shikigami, with Absolute Justice (greatly increases Light land power), Holy Zapper, and Saint Chaser. She boosts Light by 5%. Nazrin has Increase, Pendulum Guard (which cuts all damage done to a single ally by 25%, and +5% drop rate. I might use them later, but bench. Now.



I can actually kill these reliably now.



You look nice in the picture, Otoha. Shame I'll have to kick your ass later.



It's an Ace Power. I think he no longer has Ectoplasm Net, but he has Holy Zapper, I think. He's extremely dangerous, but he is recruitable, if you want to go for him.



Oh boy, a Basilisk. The Basilisk can inflict some very heavy Poison and is pretty sturdy, but I can deal with him. I forget what he's weak to. He's also recruitable.




I failed to get the proper picture, but Mokou just learned Emperor's Brandish! It's a column attack with Slayer against Warriors and Magicians.



And a Prototype, which is weak to Water. I think they might know Stun Grenade, but I'm not positive.



The thing in the back is a Supurigan. I forget what's so special about them. They're weak to Light, like most spirit-type enemies.



Sorry, I just love doing this.



The Dragon Fly joins. It knows Fire attacks I'm not interested in. Bench.



Hang on, almost.



That's a long staircase.



Now we've somehow opened up a shortcut to the top! Alright then! Let's take on Otoha now.



Pretty sunset, or is it a sunrise?



It's a dead end. Hmm, where's Otoha?




Ah, there you are. So, how's things?



Meiling notices that Otoha's pretty polite and nice for a demon. Well, yeah. She's got a tower full of plants and stuff. Though she might be a little egocentric.



Otoha compares Sunny to a worm, which ticks her off, obviously. Well, fairies are weak.



Okay, I guess a fly works too.



I guess we're done with the pleasantries, then. Time to fight!



Can anyone explain to me why she has mouse-like ear-things on her head? Please? It's kind of weird. She's Electric, so she's weak to Earth. Of course, you might not want to use Earth spells on her. Why? Just don't, trust me. She's also weak to all physical attacks. No, really. Bash away it is!



Meiling learns Chain Slash, which hits a bunch of times.
Not pictured: Meiling dealing almost 1000 damage between the four hits. Go Meiling!



She knows Suction Power, which drains HP and hurts, but it isn't too bad.



Meiling gets a critical hit off. Yes, 1187 damage. It's enough to kill Otoha. Damn, she didn't even use her Spell Card. Well, I'm glad she didn't, anyways. It probably would have killed Meiling and Patchy. She knows she Pierce attacks too, but I didn't really show those off.



That was really easy.



I think she just congratulated us for winning, or something. I don't exactly remember.



Seven hours have passed since this all started. We've got five left. Plenty of time to take down Xia.



Screen shakes, she roars, she disappears. Well, that takes care of her. Next time, we go after Xia and finish this all.



My levels, for anyone who cares. I'm going to do a bit of grinding before going after Xia, though, so they'll be different when I fight her.

Summary:

Treasure: Bamboo, Rock, Magic Piercings II, Pretty Mirror, Earth Shard, Magic Illusion Stone, Dark Shard, Maximilian, Defender, Steel, Mystic Shard, Light Shard, Person's Wisdom, Water Shard, Fire Shard, Ribbon (Eiki), Fairy's Spear (Nitori), Iron, Electric Shard, Muscle Belt II, Bracelet of Starting Break, Purification Ceremony Tool, Trapezohedron, Sledge Hammer, Murasei (Drop)

Skills Learned: Garden Moth Thing (70 power all-targeting Earth spell that can inflict Poison, Medicine), Disintegrate (180 power single-target Fire spell, Flandre), Emperor's Brandish (Mokou), Stun Blow (Patchy), Chain Slash (Meiling), Mighty Shield Wall (like Shield Wall, but all-targeting, Mining Village)

Recipes: Furagarahha, Spear of the Legendary Knight Fiana, Hyper Shell, Meteor Shard, Magic Illusion Stone, Person's Wisdom, High-Grade Fur, Mercury Drop, Bracelet of Starting Break (actually should be called Half-Broken Bracelet), Purification Ceremony Tool

TPKs: 0 this update, 11 overall
Frustration: Mainly with the story, less with the game. It'll reverse soon enough.

[Validon98]

Clock Tower of the End- Finale: Time's Up

Let's finish this! Xia, you're next!



However, I did a little bit of grinding (actually not too much). I ran into this Officer Demon, who knows Dark attacks and is basically a Dark equivalent of the Ace Power. Back to Xia.



My status before resetting the first time. Not really worth going further than this.



Right before the second reset. I'll put the Fairy Maid on Patchy to try using Land Control, as well as the Oshirasama on Nitori to use Jammer for Water.



This is from a critical on Star Hand. A critical. She has 4500 HP. Do the freaking math.



Mokou learns Meteor Zapper. Amazing.




Meiling's Last Word doesn't do that much more. Well, she does have 25% resistance to Slash, I think.




Counter Aiming. I forget what exactly it does, but it's new.



The majority of the battle was pretty much me amking sure Decoy was constantly on Mokou, making sure Jammer was still active, and using Water Wall whenever Xia was about to use "Dancing Spray of Blood." Look at the Fire land. It stayed like that pretty much throughout the entire fight because Patchy used Land Control enough to shift it to where she couldn't shift it back fast enough. Thus "Dancing Spray of Blood" couldn't inflict Instant Death at all.



Hah, that does it!



Victory is ours! You and your friends better hurry on back to Makai. Or we can do this the usual Touhou way, where we all just have a tea party, forgive each other, and become friends. I mean, besides the whole destruction thing, you guys seem nice enough.



What do you mean, it's not over?



Why is the screen shaking? I thought we were done!



No. No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
No. Five hours did not just past. You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding!



Well, we failed. At this point, the screen starts shaking even harder. Gensokyo must be falling to pieces!
This song starts playing as well. Gee, that's not an omen or anything!



What?



What!?





What the hell is that thing?!



Apparently it's the Sinister Castle of Chaos. So wait a minute...



You said Gensokyo would be destroyed. But that thing is all that showed up. What's your deal?



Answer me or I'll thrash you again!



Entertainment? You mean watching us run around, fighting monsters and almost getting killed is fun to you? What kind of sadists are you?



Then what about the time limit? You had us all thinking we had 12 hours, but apparently that's not the case.



Xia explains that they meant when the clock hits 0 again, they meant when it literally hits 0. As in 0000 hours.



In other words, they meant we had 24 hours, a whole day. We've only used up 12.



Alright, fine, then we can use all of that time pounding you into the ground!



Mokou just realized something. If beating all of the Three Demonic Pillars didn't stop this, then they aren't the ones who did this. There's someone else behind the scenes pulling the strings! Show yourself!



Whoa, I didn't mean for you to answer immediately.
Wait, why are you surprised, Xia? You thought the real mastermind would stay behind the scenes while letting you guys have all the fun? Of course not, that would make sense!



This starts playing. Such an ominous song.




I'm sorry, who're you? You look... weird. And vaguely Middle Eastern.



Xia's apparently surprised the newcomer showed herself. Okay then.



She introduces herself as the true mastermind and the leader of the Three Demonic Pillars.



Angra Mainyu? Oh shit. Oh shit. Angra Mainyu is also known as Ahriman. In other words, she's the Zoroastrian  representation of all evil. Do you realized how utterly screwed we are now?



So, why are you doing all of this? Your minions claimed it was the destruction of Gensokyo. But I'm not so sure.



She claims that she is going to destroy and rebuild Gensokyo. Into what, you might ask? A second Makai, a Makai she rules over. In other words, she's attempting to expand whatever territory she held in Makai originally.



Okay then, we're just going to have to beat you so that won't happen!



Oh, you guys are back. Are we really going to take on all four of you at once?!



No, they all teleport away. So, they've fled. Obviously they went to the Sinister Castle of Chaos.



We've got 12 hours, we can do it! Let's settle this for real this time!



But, how do we get to the Sinister Castle of Chaos? Well, we'll figure out a way. However, there's a few things we can do now that the Sinister Castle of Chaos has risen. Next time, we'll take care of those things, and then prepare for the greatest difficulty spike in the game.
Did you really think we were done yet? Ahahahahahahahaha... we're not even close.

Summary:

Skills: Blizzard (Bulbul), Great Wall (increases shield chances, Oshirasama), Eruption, Polar Blast, Toxic Cloud, Thunderclap (Fairy Maid), Meteor Zapper (Mokou), Counter Aiming (Nitori)

Passives: Dark Regen 25 (Lesser Demon)

Synthesis Done: Furagarahha (Meiling)

TPKs: 0 this update (3 resets), 11 overall
Frustration: Little. It'll get a lot higher very quickly. You'll see.

[Serela]

Pendulum Guard (which cuts all damage done to a single ally by 25%

Isn't it 75%, though? o:

Not much else to mention, apart from that most people just use Water Wall every single turn to negate the attacks. I'm not sure Dancing Spray of Blood even can inflict Instant Death through it or not; but she has regen in water land IIRC, so.

[Validon98]

Whoops, I meant 75%. My bad.
I normally would use Water Wall every turn, but in hindsight that leaves one party member doing almost nothing but that. I did this in order to allow Nitori to actually do stuff like buffing without having to worry as much about her water attacks. I don't think anyone else has ever really used this strategy before.
And yes, "Dancing Spray of Blood" can inflict Instant Death through Water Wall. The only way to prevent it is either get Death resistance or keep the Land on Fire.
She does have Water land regen, so Fire land helps.

Also, can't wait for C83 tomorrow! Phantasmal Summoners and the Hopeless Masquerade trial!

[homing curvy laser]

I love how Patchouli is dead  in pretty much every end of battle :V

[Validon98]

Sinister Castle of Chaos- Part 1: Loose Ends

There're a couple of things left to do now that we've beaten all of the Three Demonic Pillars.



The first is that this boss icon shows up in the Chaos Plains 3. Let's deal with it now, shall we?



Everyone decides that they should be careful walking around. What, were you not being careful before?



The scene shifts over to Kogasa. She's all freaked out about the incident, of course. Who isn't?



She realizes that because of all the confusion, people will be more on edge, and thus easier to scare. Can't argue with that logic.



Urameshiya!



Everyone mistakes her for an enemy.



Uh, Kogasa? I think your plan backfired.



Bash her repeatedly to win. There's no real strategy to this fight.



Afterwards, everyone realizes that it was Kogasa the whole time. Okay then...



She's a bit pissed that we beat her up because we thought she was a demon.



Then she starts crying... okay, if you come with us, will you stop crying? Yes? Okay then.
Kogasa, however, isn't going to really be used. She has the highest MP and POT counts in the game and slightly higher than average DEX, but she has only average HP, VIT, and AGI and terrible STR and INT. I don't even know what her Last Word does. I'm not using her. Sorry.



Remember that staircase that leads to nowhere? Well, there's a boss encounter here now.



Suika! Well, it seems the incident hasn't escaped your attention.



And Yuugi's with you too! Ah man, I'm glad you guys are here. We could use the strength of oni.



Wait a minute, what do you mean, you don't want to come with us?



Again, they want to do this alone. They do agree to fight us, and whoever becomes the victor is the one who goes after Angra and the Three Demonic Pillars.



It's on!



Okay, Suika and Yuugi aren't too bad, but they aren't "whack on them until they die" like Kogasa. They're actually dangerous. They'll use a bunch of physical attacks on you, especially Blunt ones. With a bit of Decoy and the fact I still have the Blunt Mastery on Mokou, I can survive most of the attacks. I also seem to be terrible at screenshotting the fight. You missed a Missile that hurt quite a bit, but after that the fight wasn't too bad.



Suika will use Missing Power to buff her STR, though, so be careful. I don't know if Yuugi can use Knockout in Three Steps, but she probably can.



Even though you two are both Devas of the Mountain, you still can't win them all in a Spell Card duel (by the way it is implied that all of the battles we've been fighting are danmaku ones, as told in Genius of Sappheiros's ending, where one of the characters talks about how they played danmaku with the final boss).



Yep, we won fair and square. At least you're not too bummed about losing, even if it does shatter your oni pride.



Meiling says something about now having allies with the strength of 100 men. That is very true. Suika is a physical powerhouse with the best STR in the game as well as a decent HP and VIT count. All of her other stats suck massively (she has the worst INT and MP pool in the game), but that doesn't matter to me. Her Last Word is Missing Power, which doubles her STR, I think. She's going to replace Nitori. It's been fun, Nitori.
Yuugi is also a physical powerhouse as a shikigami, boasting an extremely high STR boost. Along with Flandre and Kanako, they make up the top three STR boosters. They'll all go on Suika. As for what Yuugi can do, she knows Poison Hand and Knockout in Three Steps, which is a parallel power (still don't know what that means!) attack that hits three times. It's basically a physical nuke. She also increases either Critical or Slayer damage by 5%. I think it's Critical, though.
So, anyways, how are we supposed to get to the Sinister Castle of Chaos?



Remember the endless desert of Makai 5? Well, if you go through that portal on the left end, it'll now lead to a new area, which leads all the way to the Sinister Castle of Chaos.



I don't think I fought these guys before. They're Burakus, and I forget what they do. Moving on, then.



That's a big gate.



Meiling opens it up with the power of her fighting pose. Let's do this thing!



Looks like Angra knows we're here.



...Why are you so happy about it? If we're going to try to stop you from making Gensokyo into a second Makai, why would you be happy?



Looks like the others are here too. So, uh, are you going to do anything, or are you just going to sit here until the Clock o' Doom rings?




*clap clap* Good old Xia.



Are you pissed about something, Angra? I think they were having an argument over their next move, but I'm not sure.



Apparently Xia wanted to do something, but they're all shutting her up. Xia, it's best if you just stay here. Let your more competent friends try to stop us.



The conversation was hard to follow, but I think they were talking about going down to do something, and Angra not wanting them to because they got their asses handed to them.



Except they weren't fighting at their full power. Oh shit.



Yeah, we're totally screwed.
Not pictured: Chloe announcing she's going to go down and see what we're doing. This doesn't sound good...



Nice looking castle, but we're saving it for next time. I actually screenshotted the entire first part of the Sinister Castle of Chaos, but I'll leave that and the summary for next time. Can we get through the Sinister Castle of Chaos and stop Angra? What's Chloe going to do? Is there anything else we don't know yet about Angra's plot? We'll find that out as soon as I get the update up!

[Validon98]

Sinister Castle of Chaos- Part 2: The Madness Begins

So, time to deal with the Sinister Castle of Chaos. Here's its theme. Very ominous sounding, but considering it is the final dungeon, of course it is. It's battle theme? Still "The Devil Bares His Fangs." Still kickass.



These are Kujatas. They're weak to Fire, I believe, but they are able to Berserk the party. That can be really bad in this dungeon, so kill them off quickly.



Suika here is level 1. Look at her attack power. 157. At level one. This is pretty much one of the highest attack powers I have right now. She will get even stronger.



Crap, White Sharks! They know an extremely dangerous Water attack that will probably kill your whole party. If they get off two, then you are D-E-A-D. They are weak to Electric, so hit 'em fast and hit 'em hard!



Crap, a Locomo Dragon! These guys know dangerous breath attacks that'll wipe your party off the face of the earth. They have no weaknesses, so kill them with whatever you have.




Oh yeah, did I mention they know Dragon Fang, which can hit TWICE?! TWICE!




And this isn't even its worse breath attack. Thankfully I survive this encounter with it.



These guys are Beholders. They know some Mystic stuff, but they can use a skill that cancels any spells you haven't cast yet. They can be dangerous when in groups with deadly foes like the Locomo Dragon.



In the back is a Vanity. It's pretty much immune to magic but weak to physical attacks, so hit 'em hard! They know Void Cutter, which hurts. A lot.



The after results of one of those Water attacks the White Shark knows.



This happens way too often.



I think that's called a "Race," though it might be Wraith. I forget what they do, but kill them quickly anyways. They're probably dangerous.



Elite Cockatrices? Two of them? RUN. They're pretty much stronger versions of their normal versions we came across earlier.



WHITE SHARKS ARE RECRUITABLE!!! They know some pretty damn awesome Water attacks and grant 25% Fire and Water resistance. Sorry Yuki-onna, but you've been outclassed.



This is what you want the White Shark for. PKW TypeIVs, also known as "those tanks." They know some seriously damaging physical attacks that WILL kill you. They're thankfully weak to Water, so knock 'em dead, Eiki!



If only I could kill all of these...



A Sentence Car? Okay... they can buff the enemy, but they're weak to Fire. They're not too dangerous.



You, on the other hand, are. Cyclopes know very dangerous Electric attacks as well as some brutal Blunt skills. Yeah, be extremely careful around these guys.



Intense Lightning, ladies and gentlemen.



Ahh, Suika's Last Word!



That was Missing Power. I think it double's Suika's attack power, or something.



Somehow, this went a lot better in my head.



Same here.



Looks like a wall, right?



And here we find a SECRET PASSAGE!



Carbuncles here can reflect your magic and use Benevolence Wall, but they're easy enough to take down. I don't know what they're weak to.



Beholders can be recruited too. They start out with Destruction Ray (60 power single target Mystic spell) as well as 25% resistance to Mystic and Quick effects. Nope.



The girl in the back is a Deyuminasu Princess, or something like that. I;m not sure what they do, because this was the only time I encountered it and I autoran.




Flipping some switches on either side of this here pool and then stepping on a carpet in the middle raises us a bridge and opens a door. ALMOST THERE!
Not pictured: a healign circle in the next room, but no boss symbol. Strange...



Keine! Looks like you've been found, finally! You were the first one to disappear.



She's hurt, though. Crap, what happened?



Chloe did this. Okay then. That means she's somewhere around here still. That can't be good for us in any way, shape, or form.



Nitori didn't greet Keine at all. So, headbutt. Which apparently really hurts.



Sunny greeted Keine, but not properly. Okay, look Keine, we've had a long day so far, and it's only half up. Could you please stop busting our skulls with yours?



Keine's not too happy. In fact, she's upset. What's the matter, Keine?



She tells us that even though we've been trying to resolve the incident, we've never really figured out the true cause of it. Angra did it though, right?



No, she explains that she's involved with the direct cause of it. Wait a minute, so you caused this?



She explains that it wasn't her, persay. Rather, it has to do with Angra's power.
She can steal any person's power for a short time, allowing her to use it herself.
So guess why Keine was missing several days ago? That's right, Angra kidnapped her and stole her power in preparation for this incident. By using the power to eat history, Angra has taken away Gensokyo's history, which is why it has been rendered in such a state. Everything is mixed up because there was no history to define any place's true location. Without history, Gensokyo has fallen into the chaos it has.
And why is the Clock o' Doom going to ring tonight? It's the night of the full moon. That will allow Angra to change Gensokyo's history to make it a new Makai. There's no way we can let that happen!



We tell her we're already after Angra, and she wants to come with us. If we can restore her power, she can set Gensokyo back to normal by restoring its history.



Can't argue with that! Let's find Angra and crush Keine's power out of her! Keine herself is another field effect user with Great Wall to start off with and a passive that boosts field effect duration by 1. I can't really find a place to put her into my party for now. Maybe I'll fit her in at some point.



We find ourselves in Agrabah. Or just a stereotypical Middle Eastern town. The exit at the bottom brings us back to the shrine and unlocks the second warp point for the Sinister Castle of Chaos. Next time, we head further into the Sinister Castle of Chaos as we attempt to reach Angra and stop her before she changes Gensokyo's history forever.

Summary:

Treasure: Legacy of the Gods, Water Shard, Ancient Purification Thing, Earth Shard, Liquid Iron x3, Broken Treasure (drop), Fire Crystal, Keystone x2, Platinum x3, Scorching Ring, Silver x2, Makai Loadstone x3, Beholder Eye (drop), Large Mirror x2, Mystery Bamboo x2, Water Crystal, Orichalcum Shard x2, The Ring of the Earth, Earth Crystal, Damascus Steel x2, Large Makai Ring, Genie Stone x2, Adamantite Shard x2, Angel Ring, Dark Crystal, Shoulder Strap of Kagutsuchi (drop), Beautiful Bracelet, Aviator Gem x2, Ring of Thunder Something, High Grade Fur, Purification Ceremony Tools, Light Crystal, Electric Shard, Ultimate Yin-and-Yang Gem, Permanent Ice Wall Ring, Electric Crystal, Mystic Shard, Steel, Trapezohedron, Half Broken Bracelet, Mercury Drop, Mysterious Branch, Fire Shard

Skills: Hard Hit (Patchy), Mega Stroke (180 power single target Electric spell, Hatate), Mari Gras Buster (Patchy), Foreign Blast (makes your party members immune to one magic attack each, Shihuza), Falcon Slash (Suika)

Passives: 10% Variety effect boost (Shihuza)

Recipes: The upgrades to the second level of stat boosting accessories (like the Necklace of Strength II), Furuntingu, Kuruseidoburudonasu, Diamond Axe, Perseus Shield, New Moon Shield, Raiden Shield, Yggdrasil Armor, Dragon Scale, Ultimate ZUN Hat, Red Beret, Grendel's Gauntlets, Ninja's Gauntlets, Homicide Mantis Gauntlets (), Fairy Lingerie, Platinum Gauntlet

Synthesis Done: Furuntingu (Suika), Necklace of Strength II+ (Suika), Anklet of Protection II+ (Mokou), Keen Pendant II+ (Patchy)

TPKs: 3 this update, 14 overall
Frustration: Not as bad as I thought it would be, but there's still some frustration.

[Ikari]

I seriously would've raged myself to insanity if I died half the time you did. Good job!

Since I never played the game, and because I reallyyyy want to know, does anyone know Kogasa's Last Word?

Also uh...

Spoiler:

eventual Koishi?

[Hinacle]

I seriously would've raged myself to insanity if I died half the time you did. Good job!

Since I never played the game, and because I reallyyyy want to know, does anyone know Kogasa's Last Word?

Also uh...

Spoiler:

eventual Koishi?

It's just a high power attack with pretty colors. I think it can cause instant death too.

Super close to the end of the main game. Then it's off to the

Spoiler:

fourth stratum

[Validon98]

I seriously would've raged myself to insanity if I died half the time you did. Good job!

TPKs are a way of life this late in the game. However, I have an LP to do, so matter how many TPKs I get I'll keep on going.

Also uh...

Spoiler:

eventual Koishi?

Mayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe.

Spoiler:

There's still those long hookshot areas...

Also, the next update is screenshotted. I'm just going to let you know now, though, that after this update, the next one might not be for a while. There's a couple of reasons for that. First of all, I've gotten to the point in the game where I really need to start grinding, and that's going to take some time to do. The second reason is that my vacation is ending in a few days, so I won't be able to focus on playing. The third reason is also I want to take a small break from the game. I've been doing this like crazy for a week or two now, and I feel really tired of playing this. I'll get the next update up probably tomorrow, but don't expect another one for a while. I'll be back, don't worry, it's just that I really need to take a break.

[Serela]

Kogasa's poor STR is helped by her having Type 1 weapon learning type, otherwise exclusive to the protagonists; it's on par with Type 4 in overall skill learning capability, except that no other type is able to learn Type 1 skills easily at all, and type 1 skills are the most powerful of the bunch. And she's got the MP to spam them! But, yeah, probably more of a support character, given how many good skills there are with reallly high mp costs that are worrying even in a boss fight.

Cyclops, Locomo Dragon, and a enemy not seen in this update that IS in this area are all recruitable as well. Cyclops owns the 250 power Elec spell. On that matter, the White Shark isn't exactly better then the Yuki-onna, either; it doesn't actually get any particularly strong water attacks. Or, to be specific, it doesn't until level SEVENTY. Your Yuki should only be a few levels away from learning her cool nuke at lv30, right? The shark does have better DEX/VIT/HP and some nice passives though, so it's still an upgrade in some fashions.

[Validon98]

...Oh. You're right. Excuse me while I change that...

Also, I'm going to actually try to upload the update tonight. I still don't know when the next update is, but between when I said I was going to take a break and now, I changed my mind. I'll try to get it done as soon as possible, but real life is going to start getting in the way soon enough.

[Validon98]

Sinister Castle of Chaos- Part Three: Agrabah

So, onward with the Sinister Castle of Chaos, then. We've already finished the first section (of four, mind you), so lets go and do the second one!



These guys are the newest of the hard drive monsters, C400s. They are weak to Electric and know HDD Crash. Again, HDD Crash has a slow casting speed, so you should be able to deal with it without having to worry about Removal.



The High Ninja is basically a more powerful form of the Ninja. The Solid Metals, however, are new. They know some higher powered Slash skills and Benevolence Wall, for whatever reason, and they can be killed easily with Mystic attacks.



The Ammonite knows some powerful Water skills and is weak to Fire, I think.



These Bushuyasutas are weak to Electric, but know insanely powerful Blunt skills like Breathless Strikes (or Roll Apnea, whichever you prefer), and can act twice per turn.



The Backfires here are weak to Water, but boast powerful Fire spells. They can be recruited, and they're actually good as Fire shikigami.



At some points during this dungeon, you'll have to go underground. Or as underground as you can get in a weird castle/tower thing that makes no sense.

The Howaitodairu up front is weak to Ice, I believe, and knows Fang Crush, I think. The Evil Petal can put you to sleep, and will often follow that up with Invitation to Death, which has Slayer against people who are asleep. Be careful of that. They are recruitable.



Apparently Dekarabias were originally from Shin Megami Tensei. I haven't played enough of those games to meet them there. They know powerful Mystic attacks, and they can wipe you out if you are unprepared. However, they are recruitable, and they are really good because of one of the skills they have.




Thanks to this Last Word spam, I take it down, but don't recruit it.



Lily White! She knows she spells, but she really isn't a threat.



As a shikigami, she's about field effects and healing. She starts with Jackpot, which increases the chances of getting multiple hits in an attack. She also gets +3% magic casting speed. She'll be on the bench for now.



That's a Fire Crow. It knows some Fire spells and can use Nose Dive to stun you, but that's about it. Weak to Water.



I think those things are Malboros. They can hurt you. Badly.



Like so. I don't know what they're weak to, but they are pretty powerful.



Skeleton Warrior. They work just like their Skeleton cousins, except they know even more powerful Blunt skills.



King Beetles are not too bad, except they're hardy. Water will kill them, but they're hard to dispose of otherwise.



That's an Armed Hawksbill in the back. I don't know what it's weak to, and I think it uses powerful physical attacks.



Mokou learns Bandit Pursuit! It has Slayer against enemies inflicted with Permanents. This can be very useful, especially in boss fights.




Long Hookshot! We'll have to go back to those areas, huh?




We've got this.



Chloe? One of the other Three Demonic Pillars? Angra?




Tenshi!? The hell was that for?



I want answers, damn it!



The incident has spread to Bhava-agra, obviously, but she's still bored. So, I guess she wants to go after Angra herself.



And we're kind of in the way of that. Crap.



So, Tenshi. She's all about Earth, obviously, but she's extremely weak to Electric. If you do hit her with an Electric attack, though, she'll use Jammer set to Electric.



She can use Ectoplasm Net. This kills everyone but Mokou, who manages to get her Last Word and resurrect everyone. Hey Tenshi! We're not done yet!



Here's that special field effect of the Oshirasama. It'll prevent Tenshi from using Jammer.



Doesn't prevent her from kicking my ass with powerful Earth attacks.
Not pictured: Me redoing the fight, actually dealing a bunch of damage and such, and then...



Everyone gets knocked out but Mokou. She uses Little Legion to make herself immune to all attacks, and between her attacks and the poison I inflicted on Tenshi earlier, I finish her off. Best ending to a difficult fight ever.



She becomes shikigamified for her troubles, and comes with us. She's all about Earth attacks, obviously. She starts with Kaname Funnel (which is a 2-6 time hitting attack, and the name reminds me of Hellsinker's Kaname Stones), Gift from the Land (AoE 30 power healing spell), Supergravity (150 power single target Earth attack that canlower AGI), and Stone Shower (105 power all targeting Earth attack). She grants +5% Earth power. Bench.



Another boss symbol? Really?



Oh crap, it's just like when Angra first showed up! This can't be good...



Who's that?



You don't mean...



Reimu, Yukari, Byakuren! Crap, Chloe's got them cornered!



Okay Chloe, that's not cool. You just back away from them right now and flee back to Angra. No one's losing their souls on my watch.



Of course she's not going to run. She's going to fight at her full power now.



Bring it on! I can take your full power!



Whoa. Chloe, you look a lot more evil this time. No worries, some Light attacks will take you down!



Okay, you can one shot Mokou. That's cool.



And Eiki. With Abyss. Which has 200 power, if I recall correctly.



Okay, that was Star Hand. She has 10000 HP.
Maybe we don't have this.



Full Moon Revenge! Well, so long, Patchy.



I don't even know the name of this spell!



Yeah, we've totally got this incident handled, guys.



Well, that plan of attack failed.



She tells us that she'll let us live. For now. If we come back, though, she will kill us.
So, uh, is that it? Are we just going to fall unconscious and fail? We've come so far, though. Are you saying it all ends here?



No, it doesn't. After Chloe left, Akyu came. Well, I guess I'm glad to see you, Akyu.



Yeah, uh, Akyu? We don't have this covered. At all. We're outclassed and outmatched in every way, shape, and form.



Reimu explains that the three of them wandered into the Sinister Castle of Chaos by chance, and have been fighting their way up. Of course, then they ran into Chloe...



Akyu tells us that we do have a chance, if we truly unite our powers together.



She gives us a special paper, which apparently contains a powerful recipe.



That's not all! It also contains the secret knowledge of the Union Last Word! Union Last Words are extremely powerful Last Words, unique to each of the four main characters, which can only be activated if all of the party's Last Words have been activated at once. It's pretty rare to get, but if you can get it, be prepared to unleash hell upon the enemy. Meiling's Union Last Word attacks all enemies for massive damage.






We also get all of these recipes. Alright then, once we make these, we should be able to take on the Three Demonic Pillars, even if they are fighting for real now.



And that concludes the second area of the final dungeon. Next time, we'll take care of the Long Hookshot areas and continue with the Sinister Castle of Chaos.
I'm going to cover all of these new recipes in a mini-update later. There's no way I'm going to cover that all at once now. I'll cover the new shikigami I get then too. That includes Akyu and the unique shikigami of each main character. Also, Byakuren's replacing Eiki, just to let you know. That's my final change in my party. My final party, therefore, is Meiling, Byakuren, Mokou, Suika, and Patchoulli. It's a weird group, but it'll all work out.

Summary:

Treasure: Olympic Book, Magic Illusion Stone, Electric Shard, Damascus Steel, Half-Broken Bracelet, Aviator Gem, Purification Ceremony Tool x3, Butcher's Toxic Scorching Spear (drop), Mystery Bamboo, Large Mirror, Earth Shard, Rubber, Platinum x2, Keystone, Russian-Japanese Armor (), Silver, Super Cushion, Mercury Drop x2, Emperor Robe, Mana Stone, Orichalcum Shard, Ultimate Ying-Yang Gem, Brynhild (Mokou), Defense Shield (Mokou), Merlin Staff, Silver Plate Armor (Suika), Genie Stone, Makai Lodestone, Poseidon's Trident, Beautiful Bracelet, Chernobyl Guarder, Adamantite Shard, Minotaur's Axe, Long Hookshot

Skills: Element Barrier (Alice), Mighty Shield Wall (Momiji), Earth Chase (Yuugi), Mirage Blade (Suika), Bandit Pursuit (Mokou), Sonic Blade (Suika)

Passives: +20% recovery power (Minoriko), -25% cost of Light skills (Star)

Recipes: Too many to count

TPKs: 3 this update, 17 overall
Frustration: We're done with the annoying parts in terms of exploration. Time for more annoying enemies.