Let's Play The Genius of Sappheiros [HIATUS]

[Your Everyday NEET]

*sigh*This sucks.

What is The Genius of Sappheiros?
I'm pretty sure you know this game. Japanese Touhou RPG fangame made by Strawberry Bose in 2010 with turn based battle, 10+ playable characters, lots of grinding, and really hard and bordering on bullshit.

Why did you want to play it?
To be honest, I didn't, but fate conspired against me to play this game. Originally, my first pick for let's play is Touhou horror game called Ayaria Hazard, but I can't speak chinese and doing screenshot based LP on something I didn't understand is out of the question. My second pick is Chinese Touhou RPG called Blizzard of Faith and Revenge, but the game crashes in the middle of prologue. So, all that left is this game... Well, might as well do it.

How hard is this game?
Well, it's hard. The enemies is tough and can wipe you fast, bosses that requires specialized strategy and have bullshit TPK attack that you never saw it coming unless reading a walkthrough, and you'll be grinding for levels and material for hours and hours. The fact that this game has easy mode speaks for itself.

Let's get started then.

Chapter List

VS The World
Part 1
- Prologue
- Stage 1 - Great Library
- Stage 2 - Scarlet Devil Mansion
- After SDM
- Stage 3 - Forest of Magic
- Stage 4 - Former Hell of Blazing Fire
- Stage 5 - Palace of the Earth Spirit
- Stage 6 - Netherworld
- After Netherworld
- Stage 7 - Muenzuka
- Stage 8 - Garden of the Sun
- Stage 9-1 - Eientei
- Stage 9-2 - Eientei
- Stage 10 - Heart of Eientei

Part 2
- Stage 11 - Youkai Mountain
- Stage 12 - Youkai Mountain Summit
- Stage 13 - Sea of Clouds
- Stage 14 - Bhava-agra

VS Reptillian OC
- Beginning of Part 3
- Stage 15 - Forest of Magic 2
- Stage 16 - Genbu's Swamp
- Stage 17 - Genbu's Lake
- Stage 18-1 - Lakebed Temple
- Stage 18-2 - Lakebed Temple
- Stage 19 - Lakebed Temple Depth
- Stage 20-1 - Divine Temple
- Stage 20-2 - Divine Temple
- Stage 21-1 - Gorgon Barrier
- Stage 21-2 - Gorgon Barrier
- Stage 21-3 - Gorgon Barrier
- The Final Boss
- Epilogue Part 1
- Epilogue Part 2

VS The World Again
- Expansion Prologue
- Character Quest Part 1
- Character Quest Part 2
- Character Quest Part 3
- Character Quest Part 4
- Character Quest Part 5
- Character Quest Part 6
- Stage 22 - Underworld

VS Generic Villain of Doom
- Sidequest Superboss Part 1
- Stage 23 - Forest of Magic 3
- Stage 24 - Garden of the Sun 2
- Stage 25 - Muenzuka 2
- Stage 26 - Dark Space
- Stage 27 - Depths of Resentment
- Sidequest Superboss Part 2

[Validon98]

Oh hey there GoS, haven't seen you for awhile. Good luck to ya on this LP, it could... be worse, I guess?

[Leon゠Helsing]

Welp, I dearly hope you're well stocked-up on...well, whatever it is you need to cope with bullshit if it's that bad.

[Serela]

In the game's defense, grinding isn't really a thing 95% of the time (and can be entirely cut out apart from a tiny bit before the final boss). Extra stats barely help at all so it's only useful if you're about to learn a really nice move, and exp rubberbands really hard to let underleveled people catch up. Materials have low drop rates but the plan is "don't need extra materials"; only craft things that will be -really- helpful, as materials stocked up will make it easier to get all the best stuff in endgame/postgame (where farming is much easier, but still.)

But the difficulty and need for strategy are not understated :V

[nav']

Oh, nice. Played this one for a while before dropping it in the middle, can't remember the reason anymore as it was a pretty long time ago. The LP should be interesting to follow.

[CF7]

Oh, nice. I remember my struggles against this game. Those were fun times. And since i gave up on the final boss fight, maybe watching this LP will motivate me enough to actually finish it.
Anyway, good luck. =)

[MewMewHeart]

Ah... don't get me started on all the things that made me drop it after the expansion part... it makes my blood boil.

[Buggy]

I ok about grinding in this game but I admit that this game are very difficulty (even I grinding alot a still lost the some boss fight)

and if I remeber correctly if we lost the fight while explore the map we will lose the item that we find from  map that we lose the fight right?

[Serela]

I ok about grinding in this game but I admit that this game are very difficulty (even I grinding alot a still lost the some boss fight)

That's because gaining levels increases your power very little in this game; most rpgs you gain a few and you're notably stronger, but here it doesn't really do much. If you can't beat a boss you have to change your strategy.

In the third release of the game, they did take out the feature where you can't use (and also LOSE) items that you just gained in your current dungeon dive, though, along with significantly raising drop rates, making crafting recipes use less ingredients, and making the exp rubberband more powerfully beneficial (Overall your level will be somewhat higher than before). So that got better!

[Buggy]

That's because gaining levels increases your power very little in this game; most rpgs you gain a few and you're notably stronger, but here it doesn't really do much. If you can't beat a boss you have to change your strategy.

In the third release of the game, they did take out the feature where you can't use (and also LOSE) items that you just gained in your current dungeon dive, though, along with significantly raising drop rates, making crafting recipes use less ingredients, and making the exp rubberband more powerfully beneficial (Overall your level will be somewhat higher than before). So that got better!

hmmm...may be I should try the third version of this game because earlier I play only first realease version of game and I hear that there are Easy mode option in third release version of game which makes enemy kill easier ?

[Serela]

Yes, there's an Easy Mode in the third release. Plus you can turn it on/off at will, so you can always do Easy Mode for a hard boss you've died to a few times and then turn it off after if you want to- or just easy all the time, etc.

[Your Everyday NEET]

Oh hey there GoS, haven't seen you for awhile. Good luck to ya on this LP, it could... be worse, I guess?

Thank you, I'm going to need all the luck I can get. (I don't know how you are able to update once per day)

In the game's defense, grinding isn't really a thing 95% of the time (and can be entirely cut out apart from a tiny bit before the final boss). Extra stats barely help at all so it's only useful if you're about to learn a really nice move, and exp rubberbands really hard to let underleveled people catch up. Materials have low drop rates but the plan is "don't need extra materials"; only craft things that will be -really- helpful, as materials stocked up will make it easier to get all the best stuff in endgame/postgame (where farming is much easier, but still.)

But the difficulty and need for strategy are not understated :V

Yeah, I'm a sucker at grinding. But I agree with you. Primary stats like STR, VIT, DEX barely helps at all, instead, I need all the HP, MP, and skills I can get. For rubberbanding and material, I agree with your opinion.

Yeah.. I really need to describe things better.

Oh, nice. I remember my struggles against this game. Those were fun times. And since i gave up on the final boss fight, maybe watching this LP will motivate me enough to actually finish it.
Anyway, good luck. =)

I spent 3 days fighting the final boss and I only won because of luck. I don't know if I can do that again.

Ah... don't get me started on all the things that made me drop it after the expansion part... it makes my blood boil.

Spoiler:

Is it the generic Big Bad? The Lack of story? Or the extra difficult optional dungeon and bosses that makes you quit? For me, it's the lack of story

Yes, there's an Easy Mode in the third release. Plus you can turn it on/off at will, so you can always do Easy Mode for a hard boss you've died to a few times and then turn it off after if you want to- or just easy all the time, etc.

But beware, all it does is increasing your damage, reducing damage taken, and makes inflicting status easier for both sides (I think). It still doesn't do squat against fixed damage attack, TPK nuke, and status-based nuke.

[Your Everyday NEET]

Prologue

So, I decided to experiment with the dialogue by representing the characters with portrait instead of text. But since I'm lazy, I only give it to a handful of character and only make 1 portrait each. 

[Validon98]

We meet Akyuu, the resident chronicler and the only dummied out character in this game. Don't worry, few years later and your look-alike will star as a main character.

Funnily enough, the Vita version of GoS undummied her out. She's still a shikigami in DoD, still a doppels in NoR, and replaces Marisa as the Mystic-based character in Marisa's Kirisame Magic Shop, at least? :V

[Kilgamayan]

Too bad (Byakuren) doesn't enter the plot until halfway through the game.

Welllllllll...

[CF7]

Welllllllll...

And she still doesn't enter the plot, despite wellllll.
There's

Spoiler:

UUDDLRLR

as well, which i discovered on my own and i thought that's what you were supposed to do. Then i looked it up on the wiki, and turns out, that's a secret too.

[Serela]

I spent 3 days fighting the final boss and I only won because of luck. I don't know if I can do that again.

Ooof, if it ends up -that- bad, I can give you a little party setup help for the final boss XD

Although along those lines, somehow when giving my friend said little advice, he... mixed it up and used Alice as the tank in party 1 and Aya as the tank FOR THE SECOND PARTY, and somehow WON THE FIRST TIME HE REACHED NON-LUNATIC FORM? He got lucky as all getout, there. Aya barely helps at all on that form.

[MewMewHeart]

Spoiler:

Is it the generic Big Bad? The Lack of story? Or the extra difficult optional dungeon and bosses that makes you quit? For me, it's the lack of story

Because I was tired of the damn ass kicking for not doing it the game's way.

[Your Everyday NEET]

And she still doesn't enter the plot, despite wellllll.
There's

Spoiler:

UUDDLRLR

as well, which i discovered on my own and i thought that's what you were supposed to do. Then i looked it up on the wiki, and turns out, that's a secret too.

That's what in my instinct after seeing road like that. You know what, I'm going to ignore them and try to finish SDM with just 4 members.

Ooof, if it ends up -that- bad, I can give you a little party setup help for the final boss XD

Although along those lines, somehow when giving my friend said little advice, he... mixed it up and used Alice as the tank in party 1 and Aya as the tank FOR THE SECOND PARTY, and somehow WON THE FIRST TIME HE REACHED NON-LUNATIC FORM? He got lucky as all getout, there. Aya barely helps at all on that form.

Maybe I could use your help with them.

Yeah, that's incredibly lucky. Considering I won with 1 dying person left... after trying for 3 days...
Stage 1 - Great Library

It's been 2 years since I've played this.

EDIT: Modified the shield description and found Sakuya's portrait.

[Serela]

Sanae's physical skills are actually pretty strong early in the game. The issue is that she never gets a better spellcard, though; once Wily Toad tapers off she's just got decent electric AoEs for chaser support and a couple status effect snakes. Those are a lot more relevant than Aya's uses, at least... if it wasn't for Aya's 3-bomb commander skill she'd never see use outside of a couple niche fights.

Shields can only block the things that are listed in their description, and their EVA is a flat % chance to block (which is modified by any strength or weakness the shield says it has, such as the shields that have full stars versus some elements will always block it, afaik.) But they won't activate if you use a move that takes both hands, such as doublehanded weapons or magic. If you don't USE it that turn, the shield will activate even if you have a 2-hand weapon, though... as much as that doesn't tend to matter. The only real use for magicians and doublehanded attackers are the rare shields with passive effects, which will -always- function.

[Leon゠Helsing]

So why did the translation patch miss those things in particular?

[Serela]

Miss what? The reference to key color?

...that's honestly a good question, but w/e. It doesn't matter at least. Not worth putting out an entire patch update for.

[Suwako Moriya]

Because I was tired of the damn ass kicking for not doing it the game's way.

This was the primary source of my strong distaste for this game. All drops being exceedingly rare didn't bother me that much, but when boss battle after boss battle after boss battle resulted in conversations with my friends that went "How do I beat X?" "Use Alice" "I don't use Alice" "Then... ??????????", it made me lose all interest, because all of my enjoyment of the game stemmed from the large amount of character and party customization. I believe that if a game is going you present you with as many shiny toys as this one did, then boss battles should not boil down to "use this same single gadget over and over and over again". Satori especially is a kick in the teeth in this regard.

[MewMewHeart]

This was the primary source of my strong distaste for this game. All drops being exceedingly rare didn't bother me that much, but when boss battle after boss battle after boss battle resulted in conversations with my friends that went "How do I beat X?" "Use Alice" "I don't use Alice" "Then... ?", it made me lose all interest, because all of my enjoyment of the game stemmed from the large amount of character and party customization. I believe that if a game is going you present you with as many shiny toys as this one did, then boss battles should not boil down to "use this same single gadget over and over and over again". Satori especially is a kick in the teeth in this regard.

Oh right the final fight in the main serious FORCES YOU TO GET ONE OF THE HARDER SKILLS for Satori.... and both are defensive.

[Serela]

Satori especially is a kick in the teeth in this regard.

If you mean she's bad, it's more that being a blue mage makes her less clear on how to use. I almost never took her out of my party, so awesome. <3

But yes, Alice being the only dedicated tanking character makes it really hard to -not- have her in the party for any challenging thing, namely almost every boss; spamming Parrar gives you way, WAY too much defense boost on the whole party to not have it, not to mention Little Legion. She's your party's durability. Apart from a few bosses you can blinktank, once you're a decent way into the game there's really no way around it... you HAVE to have Alice for almost every bossfight or you're going to have a very bad time.

Oh right the final fight in the main serious FORCES YOU TO GET ONE OF THE HARDER SKILLS for Satori.... and both are defensive.

Forces? Nah, it's totally optional. She can actually do an awesome job in the first party if you got Mad Thunder, which is damn near the strongest elec attack in the game (including postgame) yet you can pick it up on like Stage 13 from Iku easily... if you take Satori into that fight, at least. Satori -is- pretty helpful in the second phase with Reflect Wall/Shield Wall/Healing/Leaf Shield/Dark manip though. Man, she really turns into some beastly support later on.

[MewMewHeart]

Forces? Nah, it's totally optional. She can actually do an awesome job in the first party if you got Mad Thunder, which is damn near the strongest elec attack in the game (including postgame) yet you can pick it up on like Stage 13 from Iku easily... if you take Satori into that fight, at least. Satori -is- pretty helpful in the second phase with Reflect Wall/Shield Wall/Healing/Leaf Shield/Dark manip though. Man, she really turns into some beastly support later on.

Well if you want to have an easier time, but then again I was grateful for Satori supports, but they require her to be a certain level to learn them.

[Serela]

Yeah, you have to come back and get Satori's special-tier support skills long after you fight the enemies with them (Was it lv50? So, you'll easily get there before the final stage, but not much earlier.) ... but they are REALLY strong skills, so it's understandable why. It's only a small handful, at least, and nearly the only skills with relevant level restrictions. Weekend relaxed a lot of the level restrictions along with massively boosting learn rate. Didn't Medullite Beam used to be like lv99??? It's not even particularly powerful! MEDOROAAAAAAA

[Your Everyday NEET]

Shields can only block the things that are listed in their description, and their EVA is a flat % chance to block (which is modified by any strength or weakness the shield says it has, such as the shields that have full stars versus some elements will always block it, afaik.) But they won't activate if you use a move that takes both hands, such as doublehanded weapons or magic. If you don't USE it that turn, the shield will activate even if you have a 2-hand weapon, though... as much as that doesn't tend to matter. The only real use for magicians and doublehanded attackers are the rare shields with passive effects, which will -always- function.

I don't know much about shields. All I know is sometimes they blocks, and Alice can force activate them.

I modified the decription of the shield and found Sakuya's portrait back in Stage 1.

Oh right the final fight in the main serious FORCES YOU TO GET ONE OF THE HARDER SKILLS for Satori.... and both are defensive.

Screw those defensive skills! Enemies won't cast it on you like that. Oh no no no, you have to Charm them! Control won't work because the move won't be on their skill list if you do that. Charm is just luck based as well, you have to be freaking lucky for the enemy to casts it on Satori, but the enemy is a dick and usually more content with hitting themselves, curing them from Charm. Screw this game!

Stage 2 - Scarlet Devil Mansion

Recording the screenshot live is a pain. Since I played it with gamepad, I have to switch back forth since the hotkeys for capturing screenshot is in the keyboard. Plus, the fight flows too fast to be recorded smoothly.

[Serela]

Screw those defensive skills! Enemies won't cast it on you like that. Oh no no no, you have to Charm them! Control won't work because the move won't be on their skill list if you do that. Charm is just luck based as well, you have to be freaking lucky for the enemy to casts it on Satori, but the enemy is a dick and usually more content with hitting themselves, curing them from Charm. Screw this game!

That's not even the best part though; at least one of the two really cool special defensive skills has very high priority, and also won't be cast if they're under the effect of Charm already, so you have to have Aya force you to go first and charm it on a turn it's already got the move queued up! ISN'T IT GREAT?! (Thank goodness there are only two skills like this, they're multitarget and otherwise not hard to learn, and are actually -really good- and worth some effort. Reflect Wall with only 1 turn cooldown... hummuna hummuna.)

Otherwise you could probably debuff their accuracy with one of Satori's other skills and/or buff their evasion with Sanae or Byakuren, but no, yes, it's a good chunk of effort. The only ones worth caring about are Area Heal, Leaf Shield, Starlight Barrier and Reflect Wall anyway- Area Heal is easy (second screen youkai mountain on common random enemy, big aoe) and the other two aren't bad so long as you know you have to interrupt via Aya on the same turn. It's somewhat of a hassle but if you've got any interest in Satori it pays off. (Or you can just dislike Satori, grab Mad Thunder from Iku for a few specific fights like the final boss, and otherwise ignore her :V)

[Leon゠Helsing]

So is the "my way or the highway" balancing this game apparently has really intentional or just poorly thought-out?