General statements.
I helped a man get into his religion~
As for the major issues, they are largely one and the same. Part of the trouble with logic is that it's based on assumptions. Shuuei's problem was much deeper than logic. She was, not to put to fine a point on it, on the brink of insanity. Part of this is due to her own world-view, and part of it due to drawing too heavily on the shadow; Patchouli was quite right in pointing out it was too much her. On top of this, she had her own world view. By and large, you were arguing with someone on the edge of paranoid delusions, which is where pathos is quite a bit more important and logos is almost worthless. Part of this was by design; I wanted talking her down to be the hard way. But, once you started to work to reassure her, and break some of her own assumptions, progress was made. The reason she bonded with you wasn't really within her power to explain due to being alien: She never complained to anyone before, and she never had anyone really care about her before. Despite her protests to the contrary, it did reach her. As well, you managed to distract her from drawing on the shadow as much as she was; one of the reasons her danmaku was so destructive was because of that, for instance. You managed to talk her down from it long enough that she wasn't using it so strongly, which eased the mental stress she was feeling and kept it from aggravating other problems so much. The hint toward this was in the vast differences between how she acted toward Suika, and how she acted later. (I am surprised how long it took people to really consider visiting Suika; I felt it was an obvious step).
As for the suggestion to seek advice, please accept my apologies. I didn't mean it to be an insult to your intelligence. Rather, it was that I would have preferred you worked with others who have different viewpoints, rather than give hints.
Major Questions
> Did you actually expect us to be as tolerant of Tenshi's demeanor as we were?
> Why was/is Tenshi so uncomfortable with physical intimacy?
> Was it possible to get the IkuTen 'ship sailing, or was Tenshi too uninterested/scarred by past experiences?
> How were we supposed to get out of the shadow void without the screwdriver?
> What would have happened to Tenshi had we left her the book when Pocky and Brocky told us to?
> What was the solution that literally everyone missed in the first actual meaningful dialogue with Pocky and Brocky, when you made reference to "the first half of the conversation"?
> Did we miss any shadow theft victims, animate or otherwise?
> Were the paler-than-normal fairies significant somehow?
> Is that vow of silence still on-going?
> If we had accidentally wandered near a satori (very possible with Koishi being in superstealth mode), would Yukari have found out, regardless of whether or not we ever learned we did?
> Why were Reimu, Marisa and Yukari (to a degree, when playing Devil's Advocate) so determined to ignore common-sense evidence that worked against their pre-conceived biases toward who was responsible for everything?
> With all our paranoia, was Gensokyo ever really in any major danger? Or would the major powers have simply pulled tag-team cleanup duty if Pocky and Brocky started really overstepping her bounds?
> BGM: Momizi Down Mystia's Dress
Minor Questions
> What did Tenshi think we were implying when we were getting Renko and Maribel to guess about the identity of the shadow thief?
> When we tried to get Tenshi to guess that Meiling needed to be distracted so Feisty Geist could sneak in, is that actually what she guessed?
> So why did Tenshi steal Kisume's bucket way back when? It never came up.
> How could we have reasonably passed by Sameko without pissing her off?
> What would have happened if someone braved the SDM wall?
> Where did Sunny go?
> Where was Star?
> Byakuren aside, how many people did we encounter throughout the quest that were taller than we are, and who were they?
> What was Reisen's reaction to the Construct coming back, since we never saw her to learn?
> Speaking of, with how important almost every other player character was in this quest, will we ever see Reisen in a meaningful role again? ;_;
>I really did expect you to be harder on Tenshi, initially.
>It's not that Tenshi was uncomfortable with physical intimacy, it that she was uncomfortable with Iku. Tenshi is a known and unrepentant felon, Iku is the Sheriff. If you, say, drug running, wouldn't you be very suspicious and uncomfortable if the sheriff suddenly started being buddy buddy with you?
>It was possible, you would have had to have been more open and aggressive. And she would have flipped out and run away at first, before setting into the idea.
>Two ways out of the void. Yukari hinted at one; finding the part where the void "looped" and probing at it. Essentially testing the paradox.You would have found the open part sooner or later. The other way was to pray to The Dragon; particularly within the shadow altar.
>I don't remember the situation exactly, anymore. Give me some more details?
>The solution, so to speak, relates to the what I said above. The conversation largely trying to disprove her, and backing her further into a corner, as well as threats about what would happen if she tried taking aggressive actions.
>You found all the people; there were other objections; trees and rocks and such.
>They were faeries from a place heavy with curses. They have a bit more in common with the Makai breed than the Gensokyo breed.
>The vow is a secret.
>She likely wouldn't have found out; if Satori read that, she would have already read how critically secret it was and said nothing.
>They were considering common sense, as far as they were concerned. Their viewpoints weren't your own, you have to recall. Also, you are being a little hard on Reimu, given she did nothing to you other than warnings and such.
>It was entirely possible that Shuuei could have drained the shadow so badly that restoring it would not have fixed the problem. This means that Gensokyo would have subsumed Bhava-Agra, which would have lead to significant planar issues.
>I don't remember that scene with Tenshi and Renko offhand.
>Same, remind me; it was probably something very Tenshi-ish.
>Because Tenshi found it and figured it was valuable.
>Yes. In fact, I actually expected you to get by Sameko without problems.
>I prefer not to answer the wall question. But it was possible to get over it.
>Sunny vanished when you gave her the idea of making shadows disappear. The tree line with missing shadows was her work. If you had searched for her later, she would have turned up.
>Star was elsewhere doing other things. Probably helping out the tree.
>Just Byakuren and Marisa. And technically The Dragon.
>Reisen's reaction was quite a bit of consternation, until she investigated the event herself. She was satisfied with what Maribel and Renko did with it. She has grown distrustful of Alice. Still, she's afraid some aspect of it might be out there somewhere.
>You saw all the other past playables; Patchouli was probably most vital; but had Okuu and friends not been at Turtle House that night, there was a fair chance Shuuei would have attacked. Ran largely wanted little to do with the events; she was busy preparing for Yukari's hibernation, and was faintly annoyed that the incident delayed it. Reisen may have a meaningful role in the future.
>Would it have been possible to convince Shuuei to go along with the idea of entering Iku's mind, and if so, what would the result have been?
>Were their other ways to compensate Nue for the Seed of Non-Identification?
>What was the 'need' we felt Shuuei had when we prayed to the August One during our second encounter with her? Was indeed the need for people to think about her in order to continue existing?
>What is the average flight speed of a swallow carrying a five-pound note?
>Probably not. The idea of exposing someone to that degree was akin to asking her to prostitute herself.
>You could have dug up some interesting magical doodads with more looking around or different paths, or offered to let her cause trouble with the negotiations.
>It was that she needed some way to sustain herself, which she hadn't admitted at that point. In short, it was a hint toward trying to divine what she needed, and why she had done what she had.
>Five dense.