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

[Ikari]

Nice Let's Play so far!

Random question, as I've never played the game, does the whole clock thing actually limits stuff you can do or is it just a plot point that disregards gameplay time/actions completely?

[Hanzo K.]

I've been wondering that myself. If it's only plot-related, then it's more like Rudras no Hihou(Treasure of The Rudras), which I liked.
Otherwise...Well, I'm not good with timed games like Majora's Mask. Always disliked that when a game designer made a game like that.

[Ikari]

While I like realism in video games (Read: Tales Of timed plots made no sense), I am terrible with decisions and trying to save time.

On a more related discussion, who's the most useful team member so far?

[Validon98]

It's plot-driven only. We're not playing Valkyrie Profile, damn it!

And in terms of useful party members, the game is more focused on the shikigami. The most useful person is the one with the most useful shikigami. Because we don't have that many shikigami, everyone is about the same right now, with some minor differences that get exaggerated as time goes on.

[Ikari]

It's plot-driven only. We're not playing Valkyrie Profile, damn it!

Gah! Thanks god!

What are your shikigamis and their powers so far, if that isn't too long to answer?

[Validon98]

What are your shikigamis and their powers so far, if that isn't too long to answer?

Well, I said stuff about that during the LP, but I can repeat what I've already covered.

Tewi: Front Tooth- Physical attack that inflicts Blind, Ancient Duper- Extremely strong all-targeting physical attack with terrible accuracy, +10% XP to the party
Minoriko: Autumn Sky- Heals 25% of Max HP for all party member but has a 6 turn cooldown, Water Recovery- Simple healing spell with 50 power (all spells have a power rating, which I believe is a multiplier of some sort), Clearance- Heals Permanent status effects, +10% healing spell power
Rumia: Shadow Bolt- Dark magic attack with 30 power, Shadow Burst- All-targeting Dark magic attack with 20 power, 25% resistance to Dark attacks
Wriggle: Hypnosis- Sleep spell that hits an entire column, Mute- Silence spell that hits an entire column, 25% resistance to Variety status effects
Letty: Ice Chill- Ice magic attack with 30 power, 25% resistance to Ice attacks

Should be everything so far. They'll get more abilities as they level.

[Ikari]

You did cover them briefly during the LP, but I was looking for details like those, since I never played the game and had no idea what kind of bonuses Shikgami gave.

That's pretty interesting though, thanks for the list.

[Hinacle]

Ah,so they wanted to destroy Gensokyo? You went through the prologue really fast. I thought it was them trying to

Spoiler:

make a new makai

[Validon98]

Well, I'll try to bring that up more during the LP. Speaking of which...

First Stratum- Part 0: So Here's the Deal...

Before I move onto the next portion of the game, I'm going to let you know how this is going to go from here on out, because I think I've captured WAYtoo many screenshots. So here's what I'm going to screen shot from now on:

Cutscenes
Interesting Stuff in Dungeons
Interesting Events in Random Encounters (First Enemy Appearances, First Ability Sparks, First Last Words, etc.)
Boss Fights

Here's what I'm not going to screenshot:

Treasures I've Received (I'll list what I get instead)
Abilities I've Already Sparked on Other People (Again, list)
Shikigami Abilities Earned (I'll list them as I get them)

This should cover pretty much everything. I'll try to also add as much information as I can about each master and shikigami as I get them. That should make it easier for me to screenshot, as I won't have to have as many pictures, though it means taking a lot more notes.
Updates themselves will be shorter, only encompassing no more than two areas per (or until I stop playing).
In addition to that, any new music that shows up I'll provide a link to, so that you can at least hear what the game should sound like.
In terms of uploading schedule, it's pretty much: "When I have time." I just got out of mid-terms today, so I'll be updating somewhat frequently for a while, but eventually I'll have to get into the swing of schoolwork again. I'll still update,just not as frequently. I will get this LP done. Even if I take a hiatus later for whatever reason, I will get it done.

One last thing: I didn't really think people would be really interested in this, but apparently I was wrong. Thanks for letting me know that I'm actually not failing at being an LPer. I'll try to keep things going smoothly for you guys, and if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to let me know. I'll take things into consideration.

With that, I'll see what I can do about exploring the first stratum. Please watch warmly until update is ready.

@Hinacle: Well, that's what they said.
In terms of the speed, I tend to do that with RPGs. The rest of the game is going to be at a slower pace, mainly because I have to actually attempt to collect most of the treasure, and the dungeons get more complex as time goes on. Trust me on this one.

[Serela]

It inflicts Stun. Which does have a chance to fail. Of course it does.

On the upside, it does ignore the resistance stat, so on anything without direct resistance to Stun, it works 100% of the time. Given it's on Sunny and not usually available, I think it would have been fair for it to be completely infallible, but ah well :T (This is more for readers, as you're dumping her pretty soon.)

And in terms of useful party members, the game is more focused on the shikigami. The most useful person is the one with the most useful shikigami. Because we don't have that many shikigami, everyone is about the same right now, with some minor differences that get exaggerated as time goes on.

This is very true. Even if you go directly against a character's stat layout lategame, it works out fine- shikigami (and to a degree, equipment) are the more important part. However, playing people to their stats does help a little, of course, so characters with great stat sets like Nitori are good for people who want an efficient party.

[Validon98]

First Stratum- Part 1: World of Chaos

So, Serela mentioned that Shanghai Teahouse~Chinese Tea was used a lot. Besides the title screen and victory theme, this is the first of several times you will hear it. It plays at the Hakurei Shrine and while in the Chaos Plains.



Obviously, we've got a healing circle on the right. The ying-yang orb allows you to switch masters, and the green circle lets you directly save. The only reason to use it is in case you want to save on a new slot or something.



Moving onward, this is the Chaos Plains 1. There are random fissures to nowhere everywhere. Them demons messed up Gensokyo big time.



First new enemies are Skeletons, which hit hard yet are weak to Fire, Light, and Blunt. Sanae and Sunny, work your magic!



See this rock?



Pushing it will make a jump point. This is pretty much the only "puzzle" you have to solve in this area. It's pretty straight forward.



Why the hell do we need a cutscene to open a chest?



...What...?
Her name is Isohime, and apparently after being spirited away, she was trapped in that chest. She's got a friend trapped in another chest somewhere. I guess we'll find her friend too. In the meanwhile, Isohime joins our party. She has all four of the single-target 30 power elemental spells: Fire Arrow, Ice Chill, Earth Javelin, and Plasma Ball. Her passive is that spells cast have a +5% influence on the land. I'll keep that in mind if I want to do some land manipulation.



Tanuki. They buff physical and magic attack power and have a basic attack. Simple enough to kill.



This hornet here can inflict Poison. At about 30 damage per round. Yeah, that hurts a lot. Weakness, as usual, is to Ice.



I need a hootshot to cross this gap. Really now, can't we just fly over it?
Just like in Labyrinth of Touhou, they will not listen to common sense. To the cave it is, then!



Okay, why the hell is it so dark? It wasn't dark a second ago...



Mokou shoots down whatever was talking to us. It wasn't friendly, whatever it is.



Dawwwwwwwwwwww. Mystia looks so cute knocked out.  :3
Anyways, she thought we were the ones that caused the incident. Uh, Mystia, were you even paying attention? It's those Three Demonic Pillars you want, not us.
Not pictured: The rather hilarious scene where our party threatened to grill up Mystia as yakatori, especially Mokou. She owns a yakatori stand, you know.



Meiling uses the healing power of the double fist pump to recruit Mystia and banish the party's thoughts of eating poor Mystia.
Her first ability is Scent, which is an all-targeting Sleep spell. Her passive is currently +5% XP to whoever has her, which is currently Nitori. Combined with the boost from Tewi, and we have quite a bit more XP than we should, and Nitori will level a crapton more than she should.



Goblins and Housemaids. Goblins hit hard, and Housemaids use Sonic Blade to hit extremely hard. Housemaids can one-shot Sanae or Sunny with Sonic Blade. Fortunately, like most warrior-type enemies, it's weak to Dark. Rumia, I believe your presence has been requested in every battle regarding these assholes.



And this dropped. It's a Zombie Killer, which I give to Meiling. It has pretty good damage and has Slayer against Undead-type enemies, like the Skeletons.



We've got Nurses too. They can inflict Sleep. And they can use Fang Crush, for whatever reason. Dark attacks work best on them, though.



And now we've got giant viruses trying to kill us. What will the game throw at us next, discarded pieces of technology?



I wish you could just climb over the rock instead of having to go a long way around it and do stuff to it. This is sadly the norm for this game.



Here we arrive at the Giant Toad's Pond, but I don't quite want to go there yet. There's stuff I need to do. Like explore the actual Chaos Plains 1 instead of Chaos Plains 2.



As you can see, I've filled in a bit of the map for the First Stratum. We've still got a ways to go before we complete this stratum. Back to the shrine for healing!



Rinnosuke? What're you doing here?
And what's with the Asian-sounding theme?



Nitori, why'd you call Rinnosuke a bum? He works hard! He's a shopkeep for crying out loud!



Rinnosuke explains that Kourindou has vanished ever since the World of Chaos was made. So now he's going to operate out of the Hakurei Shrine, because Reimu is missing as well. Well, I wouldn't be too worried about her. She'll be fine.



So we can make things by throwing materials into that weird pot/helmet looking thing. Works the same as it did in Genius of Sappheiros. He gives us a couple of recipes to start off with.



Is this GoForce 256 a reference I'm not getting?



This essentially says it's a catalog for comfortable dog houses. Apparently Rinnosuke thinks Meiling needs an upgrade from her current one (which was broken in Genius of Sappheiros, thanks to Reimu having been more destructive than the situation called for).



Go away, I don't want to be sick.



Crap, those are Pus. Those things can inflict Paralysis. Thankfully, I have Isohime and the power of Plasma Ball. So these guys can die in an electric fire.



Well, I didn't need to live, did I?
Not pictured: Me surviving this encounter and other one exactly like it. Pus are actually pretty slow.



I had to go around this long side path to get to this one rock to push so I can access another part of  the area. Stop making me work harder than I want to!



So here's the first Clock Tower of the End. Except we can't enter this one from this stratum. Looks like we're going to have to find another entrance. It at least counts as a warp point, for whatever reason.



Let's see where this leads!



Uh, it's dark.
Really dark.
I'm come back later (this is the Underground, by the way).



That path I opened up pushing the rock leads here. Let's see what is beyond here.



Uh, that area location in the upper-right says Makai. There are two things wrong with that.
Why is Makai even here? Isn't it a separate dimension? How did the Three Demonic Pillars get part of Makai here?
And why the hell is it a desert?
Whatever the case, once more I'll return later. I have one last thing I want to do before ending this update.



I guessed they just meshed the Chaos Plains with part of the Forest of Magic. It truly is a jumbled up world now.



Oh, hey there Marisa!



I guess she's surprised to see us.



She's also pissed because of what happened. It's okay, Marisa, we get it. We want to beat up the Three Demonic Pillars just as bad as you do. Now kindly put the Mini-Hakkero down...



Nitori, insulting her house isn't going to get you very far.



Once more, Meiling interjects with double fist pump to set things straight. Now Marisa's Mini-Hakkero will hopefully be pointed towards the enemies, not at us.
In terms of her stats, she has terrible HP, STR, VIT, DEX, and POT, but makes up for it with a decent MP pool and some high AGI and pretty good INT as well. She's essentially a Lighting Bruiser, if the Bruising was being done with magic instead of with physical attacks. She'll replace Sunny.



And back at the shrine I made this and gave it to Sanae. It has decent damage, can reduce STR, and has Slayer against Artifact Spirits. That's actually pretty handy against the Pus and their friends.

And thus I'll stop here. Before I go, though, here's a summary of the stuff I picked up along the way.

Items: Fire Shard, Thunder Shard, Rock, Zombie Killer (Drop, gave it to Meiling), Round Shield, 2 Legacies of the Gods, Flame Ring, Magic Source Rock, Wizard's Robe, Fairy Remains, Long Sword (Mokou has it), Mace (Sunny had it, but she's no longer in my party), Bamboo, Iron, a Spear (Nitori has it), Mage Staff (Marisa has it now), Bar (Synthesis, Sanae has it)

Recipes: Moraruta, Kuranbo, Bar, Steel Shield, Leather Crest

Skills- Blizzard (Letty, All-targeting 20 power Ice magicattack), Whirlwind Slash (Mokou)

That should be everything. Also, I'm going to put up the next area of exploration up to a vote. Here are the choices:

The rest of Chaos Plains 2+Area beyond that
Giant Toad's Pond
Underground
Makai 1

Hopefully this vote will go over more smoothly than the one for character choice. Well, that's enough Devil of Decline for now. Next time we continue exploring so that we can find those demons and make them pay.

EDIT: @Hinacle Hush hush, spoilers! I'm Obfuscating Stupidity to the plot HCBailly style (i.e. I pretend I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen, even though I do know). You want a plot detail out of me? Wait until I actually get to that point in the game. Don't let the guys who don't actually have a clue what's going on know what's up.

[Serela]

Another (admittedly minor) point is which promo-shikigami you're going to get.

Some of them are actually pretty nice and worth using, while others are okay-ish but nothing special. The

Spoiler:

sea cucumber and Melon-chan

are probably the most notable, although if you like charging up your power for a turn before a nuke, there's

Spoiler:

Black Angel-tan

...!

...I'm not sure that matters enough to bother with tags, but it doesn't hurt :T Anyway, more game mechanic ranting because I like going on and on and on even if no one wants to listen.

Marisa's default weapons are spears, but unlike almost everyone's default weapons, her stats are pretty badly-suited for them. They're bad at piercing def and she has pretty bad STR which is a not-good combo, she doesn't have anywhere near the DEX or AGI to help her use the quick effects they deal... on the upside, people you consider using staves for generally are best suited for blunt weapons due to their good defense-bypassing formulas, and that they carry nifty debuffs and some real blunt weapons carry magic damage boost like a staff would. You can't use or learn Blunt skills with a staff on, but it trains blunt proficiency, so it works out in the end.

[Validon98]

Another (admittedly minor) point is which promo-shikigami you're going to get.

Haven't really thought about that yet. I'll take a look on the wiki to see what there is. I didn't really use Melon-chan when I got her before (I grinded her up for using the needle attack against yukkuris... and it turns out they nerfed it so that it doesn't do much against them, which pissed me off for wasting so much time).

Anyway, more game mechanic ranting because I like going on and on and on even if no one wants to listen.

I actually don't mind too much. Sometimes you say things I don't know about the game (like I didn't know Yasaka's Divine Wind's effects increased with level, not with DEX).

EDIT: I'm probably going to go for either D-Bag (that's literally the shikigami's name) or Chibi Hina, mainly for the physical elemental attacks. I know I can always switch later on.
Also, I'm going to wait for a little while longer for votes. If no one votes, I'm just going to go on to Chaos Plains 2 and the area beyond that, and maybe the Giant Toad's Pond.

[theshirn]

Hah, I didn't even notice you put up voting.  Just go wherever, honestly.

[Hanzo K.]

I'm echoing shim's sentiments. Just roll with the flow.

[Serela]

Really, unless maybe when it comes to Tower or Not Tower, you should probably just explore at your leisure. Also, ehhhh... while I can see the use of having some elemental selection now, those shikigami become extremely boring pretty fast, as you gain more (and better) shikigami with elemental arrays , and exp doesn't carry over between the promo shikigami.

Fantasia converts your attack entirely to the chosen element, but is only as strong as a normal attack (Until you get the passive boosts; but I'm pretty sure the scaling doesn't come near standing up to just using other things), while Hands have a small portion of the element added onto the power of a normal attack. But yeah, you can always switch, and none of the promo shikigami are super useful or anything, so it's not a big deal.

[Validon98]

I can explore at my leisure. I figured I'd ask for a vote for audience participation or something, but the one LP I saw where someone did that was a blind one. Meanwhile I have an idea of what I'm doing. So I'll go where I go and do things in the order I'm going to do them in. And when it comes to the towers, I already know how I'm tackling them. So, off to the Chaos Plains 2, then!

And with the promo shikigami, again I never really cared in my first playthrough. I figured it would make Meiling more useful by abusing elemental weaknesses (especially Light and Dark, which I don't have much of right now), though eventually later shikigami will outclass those ones. So even once I get promo shikigami, they won't last long in my party.

[marukyuu]

Is this GoForce 256 a reference I'm not getting?

I guess it's a reference to the GeForce 256, the first ever video card in Nvidia's GeForce line.

As for the vote, just go whererever you want.

[Validon98]

I would have had this update sooner, but somehow I quit out of the tab I was writing this in when I was getting close to finishing.
 :colonveeplusalpha:
Anyways, now hopefully this will be the last time I do this specific update.

First Stratum- Part 2: Things that Live in Water Shouldn't be Weak to It

The Chaos Plains 2 was actually completely done, I think. So I went up to that area above it.



This is Heaven's Falls. You can't really tell that it is that, but it is. Year-Round Absorbed Curiosity is its theme. Huh, a Fairy Wars theme. I'm as surprised to hear that as I am to hear Decisive Magical Battle~Fight it out! as the boss theme.



We've got Ancient Battlefield's Fire (casts Fire Arrow, weak to Ice) and Youkai Mountain Crow (can inflict Stun with Swoop, weak to Pierce). These are the easier enemies here.



This Land Turtle here is one of the harder ones. He's incredibly hardy, but dies to Ice very easily. Can't imagine why.



Medusa's Heads. They're weak to Pierce and they look ugly. Kill them like everything else.



Considering Heaven's Falls used to be is part of Youkai Mountain, we've got to have Tengu. They hit hard, cast Fire Arrow and Plasma Ball, and are just generally a pain in the ass. Good thing they're weak to Light and Electric.



So, any doubts about Marisa's usefulness?




Banish them from your thoughts now. Her Last Word, as you can tell is the almighty Master Spark, which is an enemy-piercing Mystic elemental attack with 90 base power that scales with level. Yeah, she'll be with us for a while.



And Nitori learns Pole Swing, which is a column attack! Column attacks for all of the physical fighters!



Why, game?



You need a hookshot to cross this. I will be back for you, gap we could obvious fly over but can't because this is a JRPG and not a cutscene.



The sword guy in the back is a King Waterfall Soul. He's a plant. No, I'm serious. That mean's he's weak to Fire and Slash. He can use Whirlwind Slash IIRC.



We've got Giant Water Ticks here too. They're weak to Fire. That's about as interesting as they get.



Another cave. It's mainly a dead end with treasure.



This game really hates me sometimes.



See? There are waterfalls here. And a nice bridge, too.



Then we find this newspaper. Gee, I wonder who's it is?



I figured as much. Honestly, Aya, why would you leave your newspapers here like this?
She tells us also that she knows something about the incident. Well, any information is useful information.



Aya, we already know it's the Three Demonic Pillars. They kind of announced it. Out loud. To everyone in Gensokyo. You couldn't miss it.



Whatever the case, she joins her party to do research on this incident. We don't really have to research it. If we beat up the Three Demonic Pillars, then everything will be fine, right? That's usually how incidents go.

Anyways, Aya here has Plasma Ball and Lightning Speed, which gives the person it's cast on the ability to act twice for one turn. Useful for nuking an enemy twice in one shot. It has a massive MP cost, though (41!), so it won't be too useful right now. She also reduces the cooldowns for all Electric attacks by one. She's going to Marisa.



So where does this go?



Oh, more Makai.
Specifically, this is Makai 3. Yeah, I need to leave. Now.



So this is what we've explored so far. It's not too much, but hey, I can't explore everything faster. To the Giant Toad's Pond, to finish it off!



These Wooden Golems are Artifact Spirits, which means that Sanae's Bar will have Slayer against them. Plus they're weak to Fire. So they're not much of a threat.



This is the gimmick of this area: lily pads that carry you places. Not too hard to deal with.



Uh, I don't know what to call that demon thing in the back. It's weak to Light though, so Sanae can take care of it with Minoriko's new-found Star Blaze!



So where does this head?



Oh, back to the Chaos Plains. Nevermind, heading back.



Sometimes the game just really wants you dead. This is one of those times.



I actually have no idea what to call those frog things. They're weak to Ice. Go figure.



I think that the wolf thing is a Jayson. I don't know much about it. I was kind of not paying attention to what the enemies were doing. I'm tired, that's mainly why.



If we hadn't gotten Nitori earlier in the game, we would have gotten her here. She would have trapped us with a cage, thinking we were the incident causers. Again, the Three Demonic Pillars said it was them. People must be deaf these days. With that, however, the Giant Toad's Pond is done. Time to head back to the shrine, synthesis stuff, and take a break. Next time I'll go after the Underground, and then I'll explore Makai. That'll be fun, huh?

Summary:

Treasure: Broken Treasure (drop), Bronze Bustier (Mokou), Legacy of the Gods, Pretty Mirror, Ring of Light (25% Light Resist), Magic Source Rock, 2 Fairy Remains, a wooden shield of some sort (Mokou), Necklage of Herculean Strength/Rage Choker I (Meiling), Morningstar (Drop), Broken Bracelet, Steel, Ring of Ice (25% Ice resist), Alpine Stars (Nitori)

Skills: Star Blaze (Minoriko), Pole Swing (Nitori), Clearance (Letty), Charm (Mystia, single-target Charm spell), Lightning (Aya, 20 power multi-target Electric attack)

Passives: Wriggle: +1 to Status Effect duration

I don't know when I'll get the next update up. I might get it up tonight, but then again I might not. I'll shoot for at least one update per day.

[Serela]

So when you are going to switch out of Freefight formation? :V

For those who don't know, you auto-unlock all formations as soon as you get 5 members.

In GoS, beasts and some tsukumogami-types (not machines) were the general non-obvious things weak to earth. Dunno if it follows in this game too. On my second play of GoS I kept going "Oh, that's weak to Earth...?" Somehow, I'm totally not surprised it got removed in their new game Phantasmal Summoners.

Anyway, reptiles are weak to ice because they're cold-blooded :D They can't take cold temperatures!

[Validon98]

First Stratum- Part 3: Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks

So, I said we're going for the Underground, and that's what we're doing. I don't have especially keen memories of this place. Mainly because it was so damn annoying to navigate!



And I failed to screenshot the beginning of the dungeon. I ran into these guys first. Centipedes are annoying; they can inflict Paralysis with Coil and can hit hard with Tail Chop. They're weak to Ice, so I can kill them with Ice Chill.



Meiling, continue learning skills like Mirage Blade. They are very much appreciated.



The gimmick of this dungeon is darkness. Everywhere. So how do you deal with it?



You interact with these torches, and your vision expands. However, it will decrease over time, so activating torches multiple times is a must.



And a bunch of new enemies. The big rock-thing is a Stone Servant. It can inflict Silence, but it's very weak to Earth, for whatever reason. A single Earth Javelin can kill it.
The weird pink thing is a Blood Sucker. It can cast Fire Arrow and Fire Chase, but is weak to Fire and Light.
The angel thing in the back is a Patrol. It can cast Star Hand, Star Blaze, and Shining Stars (the 20 power all-targeting Light spell). Of course, being an Angel-type enemy, it's strong against Light but weak to Dark. Mokou, you're up for those.



Ugh, more new enemies. The Dwarf is weak to Light, but uses Shock Burst and other Blunt skills. The demon with the shield is a Keiten. They have a shield with a high activation rate and use Slash skills, but are actually weak to Slash. That's as ironic as the Stone Servant.



And then there's the Dullard, which is weak to Electric and also uses Electric attacks. It's also pretty hardy. There's a lot of enemies like that in this game.



After stumbling my way through the darkness, I run into a cutscene.



So uh, hi Yamame. So you're not looking too good.



She's sad. Obviously being spirited away isn't the greatest thing in the world. You start fading away, become less powerful, require being stuffed into something in order to stay alive...



Meiling, despite her probably knowing the whole "surface youkai and underground youkai don't mix" rule, lets Yamame into the party.



And Nitori pulls out all of her inventions for no reason.
Yamame here is a pure Earth type shikigami, who starts off with Earth Javelin and has -1 cooldown on Earth attacks. Very useful for whenever I need to use Earth, which is a lot more in this game than in Genius of Sappheiros. Earth was a rare element there, but here it's very common. Huh.



...I don't know whether to be excited that I can kill all of these guys easily or laugh that there's four of the same guy.
After I loot the rest of the Underground, I head for Makai 1. Maybe I'll run into some more demons.



These guys are Fighters. Like the Dwarves, they use Blunt skills, but they're weak to Dark.



Anyone remember those Mr. Gensokyos from Genius of Sappheiros? The ones that inflicted Poison? These are Mr. Makais. They act the small way.
Behind them are Magicians. They can cast Magic Missile, which hurts. A lot.



The gimmick of the Makai areas is these weird stone things.



They float up when activated, acting as a temporary jump point. They float down when jumped over.



The plant thing is a Makai Petal. It's weak to Earth, and I think it can inflict either Sleep or Poison. Later variants of it do, so this one I think does as well.



And Sanae learned Hard Hit! It's more accurate than a normal attack, so that's good for when you really want to hit the enemy.



So...many...demons...
Not pictured: Me obliterating the four demons in one shot with a column attack.



What the hell is a cart doing here? Wait a minute... that cart looks familiar...



WHATTHEHELL!?



Uh, hey Orin. Why did you just attack me? And why are you laughing?
Not pictured: Her basically taking a nihilist attitude, thinking that if we're all going to die anyways, she should just take our souls now. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Orin.



Why does she have one of those demons as a shikigami? Doesn't she know they work for the Three Demonic Pillars?



What did he do to Orin?



...So he was influencing her mind, and now he no longer needs her, so he stole her strength, turning her into a shikigami and making him become physical. Okay then, I don't really appreciate demons possessing other people. You're going to have to die now.



Here, take a Master Spark to the face.



Okay, it did about 1/6 of his health. Not bad.
Anyways, this is Henenkun. He's associated with Fire, she he's weak to Ice as well as Light. Tewi got Star Hand recently, so this should make things easier.
Although maybe I should have put Letty or Isohime on Sanae beforehand instead of having both on Marisa.



Okay, that sort of hurt. Thankfully he hit one of my tanks. That probably would have one-shotted Sanae, Nitori, or Marisa.



For that, I'm going to have to Master Spark your face off.



And buff myself. That'll help.



Wait, what are you...?



OUCHTHATHURT!
Nevertheless, after some flailing about with healing, I got the job done. Henenkun vanishes, just like the last two demons we fought. I'm actually surprised I managed to do that fight first time on this playthrough. It took me a couple tries to get it right before.



You okay Orin? The big scary red demon is gone.



She's fine, and Meiling is happy! Orin joins with our party, rounding off shikigami for the four basic elements!
She has Fire Arrow to start off with and grants 25% resistance to Fire attacks. That would have been helpful one boss fight ago. Oh well.



So, this goes to...



...Deja vu land. Looks like we're returning to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. First though, I shall loot the rest of Makai 1, then next time I'll go after the Bamboo Forest of the Lost.



Last thing. In Genius of Sappheiros, silver chests were locked and required silver keys. In this game, they grant recipes instead. I'll list the recipes in the summary with everything else.

Summary:

Treasure: Venomous Snake's Scale Armor (Drop, Sanae), 2 Broken Bracelets, Staff of Earth's Axis (Marisa while in Underground), Earth Shard, Anklet of Protection (Mokou)*, Ring of Earth, Magic Source Stone, Bamboo, Iron, Quick Wood, Launch Goggles (Nitori), Siamese Seal, Staff of the Thundercloud (Marisa while in Makai 1), Ring of Thunder

Skills: Mirage Blade (Meiling, can stun enemies), Flashing Pierce (Nitori, High speed and high accuracy attack that can inflict Shock), Star Hand (Tewi, Light elemental physical attack), Yorodusenano (Isohime, grants land regen of an element of your choosing to one person), Canyon Clap (Yamame, 20 power all-targeting Earth spell), Hard Hit (Sanae, high accuracy attack), Fireball (Orin, 20 power all-targeting Fire spell)

Passives: Mystia- +5 Sleep Success Rate, Minoriko- +5% Recovery Casting Speed

Recipes- Sword of the Earth, Annuvin, Axe of Lightning, Robe of Evasion, Crescent Shield

So next time, we go after the Bamboo Forest of the Lost as well as whatever's after it. I can't believe I'm already through half of the areas on the First Stratum already.

EDIT: I'll get out of free-fight. I was actually out of it by now in my first runthrough. Weird that I haven't changed yet...
Things are weak to Earth like crazy here. I didn't use Earth that much in GoS (considering Patchy, Sanae, and Satori were the only ones to get Earth spells, and I didn't use Sanae's or Satori's attack spells often...).
And what was taken out of Phantasmal Summoners? The Earth element? I didn't know that. I must have missed that part of the trailer, somehow.

SECOND EDIT: Okay, so somehow I forgot to link the music for the dungeons here. The Underground one is a remix of Walking  the Streets of a Former Hell, while the Makai one is a remix of Dimension of Reverie. Hey, Mystic Square music! Very fitting.

[Validon98]

Well, I might get the next update up tonight. Then again, I might not. Today was busy day.
Please watch warmly...

EDIT: Yeah, not getting it up. I'm not even close to finishing it. When it comes, however, it'll be quite a large update, don't you worry. Plenty of stuff to get where I am. It'll be 60+ screenshots at least.

[Validon98]

I was busy for most of the day today, but I managed to finish screenshotting. So here you go, a longer-than-normal update for your viewing pleasure.

First Stratum- Part 4: Close Call Central

So, the Bamboo Forest of the Lost again. The music's still the same: White Flag of Usa Shrine.



These guys are Desk Stars, and they can use HDD Crash to inflict removal, which is like instant death except you cannot revive people afflicted by it. These guys got the first turn and killed Mokou before I could do anything. Thankfully, they are weak to Electric, which makes them vulnerable to Aya's Lightning ability.



These bird-things whose name I can't translate can inflict Charm. They actually managed to at one point inflict Charm on everyone except for Sanae, I think. They're also weak to Electric.



See this exit?



Whatever you do, do not go through it if it is like this, or you get warped to a room near the beginning of the area. It's an annoying gimmick to deal with.



...I'm so glad I can go before them, otherwise I would be crying.



These Werewolves are weak to Electric, but can use Hellclaw Assassination, a column attack that hits hard and inflicts Poison. Given that I'm still in Free-Fight, this hurts. A lot.



This is where you end up if you get screwed over by the fog. Well, time to restart!



You can't really tell by the picture, but you see how that area is foggy on the minimap? If you go there while the fog's out, you'll end up in that room in the earlier picture. This happened to me at least once. On the bright side, if you don't have Mokou in your party, there's where you would get her.



Tiger. Why? I don't know. I don't know what he's weak to, but he hits hard and has a bunch of HP.



Finally, a way out of this place. I don't see what could be more annoying than the place I was just in.



Oh. Right. Makai. Filled with those stupid floating stone puzzles, which get more annoying here. The words "backtrack" don't even begin to describe Makai 2.



Oh hey, I remember you from Genius of Sappheiros. Matangos are weak to Fire and Slash, like most plants. I forget exactly what they do, because I usually kill them before they do anything bad to me.



More new enemies, this time the Orcs. I think they know Blunt skills, but again I forget.



What are Zombies doing here? Whatever the case, weak to Fire and Light, as usual.



And an Ogre. Thankfully, as he's a giant, he's weak to Earth and Slash. He might have a lot of HP, but he's not too bad. So fire away, guys!



The guy in the back is a Payokakamui, I think. They are weak to Earth of all things and know Electric skills. So many things weak to Earth in this game...



...That's a lot of dudes.



And Alligators. They're weak to Ice. Of course they are, as reptiles. I think they can use Fang Crush, but I forget.



One Ogre, not a problem. Two Ogres? Yeah, run.



In that chest is the unique promo shikigami. Whichever one you get depends on the code you entered. Because I still have the code for Melon-chan left in, then that's what I got. She has terrible stat boosts and knows Drain Touch (Dark elemental draining attack) and Melon Beam (1-3 hitting physical attack with a two-turn cooldown). She does increase drop rate by 1%, so I'll keep her around.



'Kaythanksbye. *runs*



A boss room. Not quite yet, I need to do things.



Another cave, but this time I'm going inside.



A The Road of the Apotropaic God~Dark Road remix? Weird music for a cave, but it's cool sounding, so I'm good with it.



More new enemies, the Ghost (the guy at the top) and the Quick Silver (the girl at the bottom). The Ghost is practically immune to physical attacks, but Light will kill him easily. I forget what's notable about the Quick Silver.



Holy crap Nitori, you've turned into a missile! Missile Weapon can inflict Stumble, but unlike Leg Sweep, which has "parallel" power (which I have no idea what that does), it has Medium power. Okay then.



At the end of the cave we find... can it really be?



It is! It's the Scarlet Devil Mansion!
And for some reason Heartfelt Fancy is playing. Okay then.



Patchouli? You didn't get spirited away? I figured with her poor physical condition, she'd be easy enough to spirit away. I guess she's too tough for the Three Demonic Pillars to get spirited away.



See? Meiling shows my surprise.



Patchy explains that she and Remilia hadn't gotten spirited away, and that they split up to look for those who were spirited away. Except Remy hasn't come back yet. Nevertheless, it means that's she's not in shikigami form, while the other residents, well...



Sunny calls Patchy a shut-in. How rude! Even if it is true, that's kind of rude. Well, you're a fairy. I could punt you into a tree and you'd turn to dust.



Patchy here isn't amused, obviously.



Meiling steps in with a quick double fist pump to break up the arguing. Patchy promptly joins our party. She's weak in all physical matters, meaning her HP, STR, VIT, DEX, and AGI are all crappy. However, she has the highest INT in the game as well as the second highest MP. I originally didn't use her in my first run too much, but I'm going to replace Marisa with her, just to try something new. Don't worry about her being behind in level. She'll catch up quickly enough.



Elsewhere in the SDM I find these upgrades to the 25% resist accessories I've been picking up. I can make each of them except for the Ice one, because I don't have a Water Shard. Thee guys add 10 RES to the original 25% resistance, so they're pretty good.



To make up for the fact that I now have such a squishy master, I switch to Twin Shield. I hardly knew ye, Free-Fight. No more Last Word spam.



Yeah, I'm going to come back later. I want to finish up Makai 2 first.



And Mokou learns Mirage Blade. Well, it's a good as time as any.



Who usually carries around a violin and a trumpet? Hmm...



Oh yeah, Lunasa and Merlin. Here to perform in this desert that's apparently Makai?



Mokou promptly notices that there's supposed to be three Prismrivers, not two. Apparently Lyrica is still missing.



Meiling gets them to join with the power of double fist pump (and a promise to both find Lyrica and kick the Three Demonic Pillars' asses).



For some reason, Lunasa plays the "defeated" theme. Which is yet another Chinese Tea remix. What a shock.



Merlin perks them up with another Chinese Tea remix, this time the victory theme. That brings us up to four Chinese Tea remixes heard so far, including the title theme (which I did not link, for some reason. Here it is).



Meiling's so happy, she can double fist pump a second time! She's way too happy for such a serious incident.
Lunasa's more of a physical-type shikigami, but she also has Increase, which buffs one of the six main stats for all party members. She also boosts critical hit damage by 15%. She's going on Nitori for maximum buffing output, though.
Merlin is more of the magical type. She starts with only Insanity (which causes Berserk to a single target), but learns Magic Missile (a 40 power single target Mystic spell) after a single level up. She also boosts magic attack by 1%. She's got really nowhere to go, but I put her on Sanae for now.



Alright, let's do this thing.



Yuka? What're you doing here?



Apparently she wants to kick some ass too. Well, hop on! There's plenty of room. We could use the help.



Hang on, what? You want to do it by yourself? What, do you think we're going to steal your victory?



Apparently so. And Drifting in the Fog of War plays again, but it's upgraded from the original. Yeah, I needed some good pre-ass-kicking music to pump me up for this fight.



Pointing your parasol isn't going to do anything. Unless your going to Master Spark me. Then I'd want to get out of the way.



And we have Demystify Feast as our new Touhou character boss theme. Alright then.
So yeah, Yuka. She's weak to Electric, but she's physically tough and hits hard. No worries, I've got buffs.



After managing to not get killed for two rounds, I find out she can cast Sleep, which knocks out Nitori, Mokou, and Patchy. I really need Patchy; she's the one with Aya on.



Wait, what are you...?



Crap, there goes Nitori. Do note I have no revive spells. Yeah, Meiling and Nitori are out for the rest of combat.



She has a spell that makes her immune for physical attacks for a round. Big whoop, I can barely scratch you physically anyways.
She goes down with TPKing me, thankfully.



She agrees to come with us, begrudgingly. Yuka is a physical tank with the best HP and VIT in the game, but she lacks in AGI or DEX, which makes her a bit tough to use for anything but tanking. Her Last Word is the same as that spell she used to make herself immune to physical attacks. I'm benching her, mainly because Mokou is also a good tank but isn't necessarily only good for tanking like Mokou is. Weird, I replaced Mokou with her in my first run through the game. I guess I understand the importance of having a versatile party now. WHAT A SHOCK.



And all of that took an hour to do. Well, eleven hours left until the end of Gensokyo. We've totally got this, guys.



We also pick up... this person. She's the friend of Isohime that got trapped in a chest too. I never really used her, so I'm not even going to bother talking about her, because there are other shikigami that can do the same thing as her, but better. Plus Permanent status effects are hard to land on people anyways.



The staircase drops us off here... which is a blue recoloring of Makai.



As you can see, we're now on the second stratum. Yeah, coming back later. After I finish the first stratum. That's it for this update, though. Next time we go to the Youkai Forest and hopefully finish off the rest of the First Stratum.
In addition to my usual summary, I'm going to include a TPK meter. It'll say how many times I've been TPKed, and how many times I was TPKed in this update specifically. The higher that number, the harder the area is. Usually.

Summary:

Treasure: Gale Boots, Broken Treasure x3 (Drop), Fairy Remains, Rock, Bamboo Guard (Patchouli), Dark Shard, Steel, Dragon Lance (Nitori), Purgatory Staff, Muffler of Evasion, Legacy of the Gods, Pretty Mirror, Ring of Darkness, Silence Gold (Nitori), Thunder Shard, Amulet of the Milky Way (Drop), Tabaru (Sanae), Fairy Remains (drop), Hard Shell (Nitori), Kiruteddoshiruku, Mystic Shard, Pendant of Sharpness (Patchouli)

Skills Learned: Flash (multi-target Blind spell, Mystia), Pitch Darkness (column Blind spell, Wriggle), Lingering Cold (60 power all-targeting Ice spell with high MP cost, Letty, Missile Weapon (Nitori), Magic Missile (40 power single-target Mystic spell, Merlin)

Passives: Tewi: +1 Critical hit chance

Recipes: Bracelets of Fire, Water, Thunder, and Earth

TPK Meter: 0 this update, 0 total
Frustration with the game: Small. Some annoying areas like the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and Makai 2, but nothing too bad. Yet.

[Serela]

Yuuka's actually got above-average strength too, so she's nice apart from just being the most durable character. But of course, if you used her on your first play, then~

Food-loli (shikigami he got at the end) learns the strongest and also most accurate (base 100% hit chance) poison move in the game after awhile, but she's not good for much else. She learns resists to various status effects and has some cheap single-target status moves like Paralysis. Poison is actually a pretty worthy status effect in this game all the way to the very end of expansion, so she can be pretty good (leveling her increases her poison move's strength more) but if you aren't interested in using poison much, then you'll never have any use for her.

That bird enemy is Moh-Shovuu or something, I think!

[Validon98]

Food-loli (shikigami he got at the end) learns the strongest and also most accurate (base 100% hit chance) poison move in the game after awhile, but she's not good for much else.

Oh, really? Okay, she'll replace Wriggle then, because Butterfly Storm and it's usage for poison is the only reason I have her on.
I really wish I knew that earlier. It would have made several boss fights much, much easier.
Welcome to the team, Nishiki!

[Serela]

Ahahaa, good thing I mentioned it then!

It's possible to stack poisons on enemies in this game, but I have no idea how that works, exactly.

[Validon98]

Okay, I'm going to upload the update soon. All the screenshots are done, it's just that I need to upload them.
There's good news and bad news in relation to this update.
The good news: exploration of the first stratum is done. I'm pretty sure I've gotten all of the chests and shikigami I can get without the hookshot.
The bad news is that there's a great big Beef Gate between me and Xia's tower.
Yeah.
This messed up my plans for the order I was going to do things in, but not to worry! I've got a backup plan. So watch warmly for the update and I'll let you know then what Plan B is for the LP. I may be a bit down (I haven't been feeling well for the last two days or so) but I'm not out. It'll take a lot more than a Beef Gate to mess me up.

[Validon98]

First Stratum- Finale: The Beefgate Scandal

I did put Nishiki into my party like I said I would. She currently has Sleep, Paralyze, Blind, and Silence, which are all single-target status-inflicting spells that inflict exactly what they say they inflict. She also currently grants 25% resistance to poison, which is nice when enemies use stuff like, I don't know, Hellclaw Assassination, or something like that.

So, to the Youkai Forest, then. It has White Flag of Usa Shrine as a theme too. I'm not even going to bother linking it again, because the theme has been recycled already, and I'm tired of relinking recycled music.



The angels are Apostles, and the girls on the left are Deacons. The Apostles have the usual Light skills, but I think they have Holy Zapper. I forget if they do or not. The Deacons can use Water Recovery to heal, but I forget what else they can do. Weak to Dark, as magicians usually are.



Three new enemies in one shot. The Ground Spider is weak to Ice and I think can paralyze people. The Lizard Man is usually dead due to Ice before it can act (though it knows Slash skills) and I have no idea what's up with the Venus Man Trap. Again, it's usually dead before it does anything.



The Mining Village, as weird as it looks, is weak to Earth and can explode in your face if you leave it for too long. Try not to think about that too hard.




So, another Blunt skill for Sanae, eh? This one's... something. Google gives me Gras Marie Buster, ATLAS gives me gibberish. Personally, all I know is that it's an AoE attack that lowers POT, I think.



More recipes, this time the CD-ROM and the Light, Dark, and Mystic 25% resisting accessory upgrades.



There's an Archer in the back. She can shoot you. She's weak to Dark. That's all you need to know.



So where does this one go?



Gah, more Chaos Plains. I thought I was done with those. Going back for completeness.



I find this. It's Hina! She's not spinning, though. Okay then.



She's surprised to see us here, but that's sort of expected when the Three Demonic Pillars sort of mixed up Gensokyo really well.



Despite the fact that she says that she cannot take on all of the misfortune from this incident (which means she's leaking misfortune badly now, and that misfortune's going to befall the entire party, such as Mokou's stand failing and the Moriya Shrine receiving even less faith) she joins anyway. She's a pure debuff master, currently with Decrease, which is like Increase except it decreases one of the enemy's main stats. She also offers 50% resistance to curse, which would be nice if any enemies inflicted curse at this point.



Oh hey, an Infant Demon. We'll be seeing more of these types of monsters as time goes on. For now, just know that it uses stuff like Dark Zapper and other Dark elemental attacks. Star Hand does a number on these guys, though, so Meiling will hurt them. A lot.



We will be back.



Oh look, another tower I can't enter. That's 2 of 3 of them, now. By process of elimination, only one other is left. There is only one tower that can be accessed per stratum, so it has to be the one in Makai 3.



These winged things are yet again something I can't translate. I think they might know Hellclaw Assassination, but I'm not sure. They're weak to Electric.



This is a suppository. Gee, I wonder who needs this in order to show up? Nevertheless, that person isn't here. I'll have to find her elsewhere.



Hang on a minute, I want to check around a little more before going through.



Actually, that's enough checking around.



Makai 3, finally. This is in fact the last area of the first stratum!



And here's the entrance back to Heaven's Falls, in case I need it. Which I don't.



Hang on a sec, we'll get there.



In another part of Makai 3, the title theme starts playing. That's weird, I though that was for the title screen only.



Ah, there you are, Lyrica! Your sisters are worried about you!



I believe the conversation implies that she abandoned her sisters to go at it alone, and that despite the fact we found them, she doesn't want to really go with us. Too bad, you're coming with us, Lyrica. She's actually good at buffing stuff, and starts with Heat Weapon, which increase's the party's physical attack. She also increases magic defense by one for now.



Now we'll take care of this boss. I don't actually remember what the boss was like in my first run.



Finally, a Clock Tower of the End that I can enter! Looks like this is Xia Zhuli's tower. I'm sure it'll be a bloody good time.



However, this thing appears. It's a trap!



Who the hell are you?



Apparently his name is Ansuitei, and he's the guard of this place.



Dark auras are never a good sign of anything.



Oh, you look threatening. I'm pretty sure some Star Hands and Fire Arrows will bring him down.



What the hell?



Oh, it only damages my whole party and stuns it. Great.



He can Blind us too? Oh great. Magic attacks aren't doing too much to him, so physical is normally the way to go. Except he can inflict Blind. Swell.




Yeah, this hurts. A lot.



Well shit.
Looks like I'm not going in any time soon.



On the bright side, we've pretty much finished up the first stratum, as you can tell by the map. That blank spot in the middle isn't important or anything. Not at all.
So, instead of grinding, we're going to move on to the second stratum and all of the joys and splendors it brings us. We'll be back. And we'll throw Ansuitei and Xia Zhuli into a pit of fire, where they belong.

Summary:

Treasure: Ancient Purification Thing x2, Intense Cold Staff, Fire Shard, Armor Lining, Rosary of Fortitude, Water Shard, Linen Cuirass (Mokou), Muscle Belt, Chain Mail (it's an accessory with 25% Slash resistance, not an armor), Magic Piercings, Barrier Earrings, Ring of Magic, Earth Shard

Skills Learned: Gras Marie Buster (Sanae), Tongue (lowers resistance to Fire, Water, Electric, Earth, Light, and Dark by one level, Rumia), Capture Web (50 power all-targeting Earth spell with a chance of inflicting Paralysis, Yamame), Melt Weapon (debuffs physical attack in a column, Hina)

Synthesis Done: Bracelet of Water (Mokou)

TPKs: 1 this update, 1 overall
Frustration: Small. Even though I've encountered a Beef Gate, I've got options, namely going somewhere else.

[Validon98]

There's most likely not going to be an update for a couple of days. I would have done so tonight, but I've started playing Persona 4 Golden and, well...
Yeah, I've wasted a couple of hours with the beginning of that. And tomorrow I'm going to be livestreaming a Touhou marathon, so...
Yeah. Thursday's most likely the day I'll get an update up. I'll get to the second stratum, don't worry.

EDIT: Actually, if I change a couple things around on my to-do list for today and tomorrow, I'll actually get something up later tonight. Please watch warmly...

[Serela]

I think that's Mardi Gras Buster! Or whatever that holiday is...

Rumia's Tongue Lick skill is so fabulous <3 Due to the way some things scale, hitting any degree of weakness makes your damage skyrocket later on; increasing STR makes you deal more damage when you hit a weakness, go figure. (INT increases critical hit damage, so that becomes similarly insane later as well. Probably related to why I saw a Patchouli deal like 44k damage with a physical attack when hitting weakness and critical.)