Good evening. I am Sakuya Izayoi, loyal maid to Lady Scarlet. Today I am writing following our first venture into the bizarre space that has appeared above Gensokyo. It is a most peculiar place, one whose very presence has wrecked havoc upon the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Unfortunately, my participation in this expedition has left a mountain of duties piling up back home.ba
Someone was going to die for this.
Thankfully, I am not alone. My mistress and her close friend Lady Patchouli boldly stand by my side. As it is dangerous to leave her alone in the mansion unattended, the young mistress Flandre has joined us out of necessity, in the hopes that we could channel her destructive tendencies towards more useful endeavors. Also by our side is the indolent shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei, who must assuredly atone for this disaster that she had helped wrought through her own negligence.
In addition, the disgraceful thief Marisa Kirisame has finally managed to do something beneficial and recruited several others to our noble cause. The first is Lady Moriya, one of the goddesses of Youkai Mountain, who has righteously identified the threat to Gensokyo and has pledged her assistance. Second is Lady Ibuki, an old friend of Yukari Yakumo's, who is concerned for her friend's connection to this incident. Our third compatriot is Miss Shameimaru, the nosy reporter of Bunbunmaru fame, whose limitless curiosity has brought her to the scene of the incident. Lastly is Lady Kazami, the Flower Master of the Four Seasons. I believe she said she just wished to kill things.
Marisa accompanied us on our journey, but chose to keep her distance from us. She did mention something about coming only to "loot precious things".
I recall being apprehensive about our missing gate guard, who had disappeared around the time the hole in the sky first appeared yesterday, but little do I know I'd soon find the answer to that mystery. Regardless, I relished the thought of what punishment she deserved for her absence. Leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion to the care of a few fairy maids, we set off for the strange distorted space.
Upon our entrance, we were greeted not with the raging pits of hell, but rather the serene grace of a tranquil woodland clearing. This is certainly not what we expected, although I would by no means complain. Best to ease oneself in, after all.
A few steps in, we ran into the first of many bizarre features of this dungeon: the event flag "!". Apparently, these mark special spaces where certain events would occur, be it treasure chests, special switches, elaborate puzzles, or character encounters. Boss battle events will be marked with a menacing violet facade...or at least, most of them will be. Since we can only see one space ahead of us, we must tread carefully, lest we walk blindly into a deadly ambush.
Fortunately, no such ambushes were to be had at this stage of the game. The local wildlife may have looked out of place anywhere else, but not in Gensokyo. Living plants, minor demons, ghostly wisps, and annoying fuzzballs infringed upon our advance, but we mercilessly swatted them away. Milady in particular demonstrated incredible strength and grace as she tore them apart with her energy spears, her light hair shimmering in the scarlet glow, her small but well-tuned muscles exerting enormous might as she let out the most adorable grunt with each blow that illicited such a response from...
Ahem, moving on now. During our expedition we came across three events of interest. The first was the discovery of a peaceful spot basking in the warm glow of the sun, although I have no idea how the sun is even shining in this place. I'm not sure how this is significant at all, but my companions seem to think this was notable.
The next interesting event occurred when the space around us rapidly darkened for a few moments. It only lasted a short while, but it was certainly not natural. Lady Patchouli warned us to be aware and take note of our surroundings lest a similar incidence catches us again.
The last, and most significant, event was when we overheard someone crying some distance away. I immediately recognized the distinct wimpering as a very familiar sound that has graced my ears many times before. Milady confirmed my suspicions, and we set off to find the source of that noise.
To no great surprise, we come to find our gate guard, cowering in hiding and muttering something about everyone from the mansion being dead or some other sort of nonsense. Milady graciously tried to comfort her and snap her out of it, but in her delerium she had the impudence to accuse us of being malicious spirits, and in her terror, attack us!
If there's one thing I can commend China for, it's her ability to endure an impressive amount of punishment. Unfortunately for her, she can't return the favor to any degree. Reimu started off the fight by putting her barrier powers to good use, summoning up a sturdy wall of spiritual energy to shield our allies. China's attacks were unable to put much of a dent into our defenses, and we soon had her cornered. She tried to get a second wind going with her healing chakra, which undid much of our efforts, but even that was not enough to halt our unwavering assault. After beating some sense into her (and a few familiar knives to the back), China was finally willing to listen to what we had to say. Milady forcibly conscripted her into our party, reasoning that the Scarlet Devil Mansion was too damaged to need a gate guard anymore anyway. I was just glad we had a suitable slab of meat to safely stand behind.
Shortly thereafter, we returned to the mansion to initiate our newest member. I cannot speak of what such an event entails, as I left as soon as it began to record this transcript. Although, I do hear a punctuated scream every so often coming from the other room.
Speaking of which, I still must rejoin them in welcoming our newest ally. Just as soon as I finish sharpening these knives.
~ Sakuya Izayoi
And some gameplay notes:
Spoiler
Although I will be using Alice and Cirno in this playthrough, they both join relatively early in the game, so I felt it was easier to just write them in when I first meet them. Aya also joins fairly early, but since no battles are involved, I'm just going to skip the (very very easy) sidequest to get her in this playthrough. Flandre and Suika normally join very late, but only the former requires a battle. Same goes for Suwako, only she joins about 1/3 into the game. I'll write those fights in when I get there. Yuka is an extra character from the post-game content after beating the final boss, so I might as well use her now or never. Reimu, Remilia, Sakuya, and Patchy are all starting characters.
I won't be using Marisa, but she appears in a lot of cutscenes, so she'll still be around...somehow. This actually goes for a lot of characters, even if you don't use them.
Gameplay-wise, the normal enemies on floor 1 are pretty easy to sweep with Patchy. Just don't use Satellite Himawari, as many enemies here are resistant to Nature spells. Many enemies drop SP Rec + gear, which is useful for helping Patchy recover her low SP. When everyone starts at level 1, they all have the same base 100 speed, so if you need Patchy to go first to use focus while everyone else finishes the sweeping for a round, put her in an early spot, as characters with identical speed will move in row position order. Just don't let her get hit while you do this, because she dies very easily.
Meiling, as the game's first boss, is pretty easy. Her attack power isn't very good, and she only has single-target attacks, so put Remilia in front to tank and use Reimu's Great Hakurei Barrier to protect everyone. When she gets low on health, she will use Colorful Rain to heal about 1600 HP. I've never seen her use this more than once in battle, though. Maybe she can use it again, but as long as you pile on the attacks you should be able to overcome it. It should be a fairly easy fight so long as your party is at least level 4-5. Meiling has a 25% chance of dropping an Unwavering Will, which is an OK piece of equipment at this stage of the game (HP, DEF, MND +12%; REC +4%). It's notable for not being dropped by any other enemy, with the only other version of this found in a single treasure chest.
Next chapter will be a bit shorter, so it should be up in a day or two. It takes me much longer to type this up than to actually play it.
One other thing: I haven't really decided how I plan on portraying each character yet. Some characters, like Patchy, Cirno, Yuka, and Flandre, I've already had ideas for, but I haven't really figured out how to write for some of the other characters. So, if anyone wants to suggest ideas, I'm open to considering them.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Don't Call Me China!
I see that you chose to go with Remilia/Sakuya instead of Sakuya/Meiling. Poor Meiling being delusional and brushed aside by the one she is normally shipped with, still hilarious to read. Very much so in fact. Also the early bits do seem fairly easy, like they probably should, being early and all.
And you are not the only one who doesn't hate Suwako Felyndiira. She is not one of my favorites, but i like what little i have seen of her. It does help that she is the main character of the best Touhou doujin i have read, though.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Voting for Characters Now Open! (Prologue Up)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Felyndiira
Suwako: I'm like the only Touhou fan in the world that doesn't hate Suwako, so her voice must be heard.
...you move in some weird Touhou communities. I mean, almost everyone at least likes or doesn't excessively mind Suwa, in my experience. I haven't really found any haters.
Also, Mirrinus: Interesting up to now. Will keep reading.
__________________
There is no God but Haruhi, and Kyon is Her prophet.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - CHEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!
This section took a lot less time to play through, as I had already mapped out most of floor 1 when doing the first chapter. Here's the end of floor 1.
Spoiler
Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 2
Salutations. I am Patchouli Knowledge, keeper of the great Voile Magic Library and master of the seven elements. For those of you who are apprehensive concerning my lofty exposition, do not be alarmed. I will try to speak at a level more fitting for beings of your particular persuasion to comprehend. I do believe I know just the thing: a certain "web site" that an acquaintance of mine from Eientei introduced me to a while back. This will be a good opportunity to exercise my utilization of this resource, although I would like to apologize in advance for any overuse on my part.
The shikigami of a shikigamicat youkai crossed our paths, and we immediately pounced on our first connection to YukariYakumo, our primary suspect. Chen denied any knowledge of what Yukari was doing, but refused to cooperate with us, and dashed off. We gave chase, but my accursed asthma was of no help in our pursuit.
I cautioned our allies to beware, but of course naive simpletons like Reimu and Marisa would never listen. Thankfully, this particular seal could not be broken in our current state, for the seal itself seemed to be guarded by a multitude of additional seals. We wisely departed, although our mere presence surely seemed to have been significant.
After a strenuous chase that stretched me to my utmost limits, our group finally managed to corner Chen. In hindsight, I realize that I was foolish to believe the servant of some of the most cunning beings in Gensokyo would give up so easily. Chen led us to the area with the greatest spiritual energy, and with her power amplified she attacked us with all her might.
As an archtypical fragile speedster, Chen was capable of striking multiple times per round with her Flight of Idaten. Thankfully, as a single-target attack I was never the recipient of it. My allies could weather the blows reasonably well, especially after Reimu provided us with some cover. Chen did provide some problems when she cast Kimontonkou to buff her own attack, though, as China only barely survived her subsequent barrage. My wise choice of staying in the back of our party order meant I suffered much less damage from Chen's row attacks.
Unlike the time we fought China, Chen's ability to withstand punishment was far weaker. Lacking the high defense that China boasted, both physical and magical attacks did massive damage. I in particular contributed with my efficient Princess Undine spell to exploit her weakness. With no way of healing herself or increasing her defenses, it was only a matter of outdamaging her before her attacks could bring down enough of our own.
Once we brought Chen to submission, she informed us that neither she nor Ran had any idea what Yukari was doing. Her mistress Ran had gone ahead to find out for herself, but Chen was told to stay behind. I suppose we'll have to take her in at the mansion until Ran returns.
After returning from a quick trip to the mansion, we were back in the deepest part of the first floor. A short distance beyond where we fought Chen, we came across the most glorious sight of all.
But before we could proceed to the next stage, Reimu insisted that we first check out something else she had found.
Yet another bloodstained seal stood before us. Of course, Reimu and Marisa insisted that we check this one out. After all, they reasoned, the other one didn't do anything bad no matter what we did, right?
Chen shouldn't be too much of a challenge if you're at least level 5, and have recruited Meiling. If you haven't figured out how row order matters yet, prepare for your mages to die quickly; otherwise, Meiling in front can easily withstand several blows from Chen before needing to heal herself. Keep Patchy in 4th slot and Marisa in 3rd, or expect to eat a lot of row damage from Phoenix Spread Wings. Chen may be weak to Cold spells, but Patchy's Silent Selene is faster and does more damage, although it's also more expensive. The difficulty of the fight usually depends on how often Chen boosts her attack power with Kimontonkou, as her normal attack strength isn't much to worry about. Using Great Hakurei Barrier and switching Reimu out immediately isn't a bad idea. Sakuya is also more useful in this fight because unlike Meiling, Chen has low enough defense for Killing Doll to do decent damage. Chen has the same HP as Meiling, but much lower DEF and slightly higher MND, and no way to heal herself.
The Bloodstained Seals lead to boss fights against bosses from CAVE danmaku games. They are among the many Bonus Bosses of this game. The boss of the first seal on the first floor is the Master Light Wings Close Range Support Cruel Battle Mecha E.V.D. (yes, the name is that long), from Ketsui ~Kizuna Jigoku Tachi~. All Bloodstained Seal battles aren't meant to be beaten until after the final boss, as part of a post-game sidequest. I'll still do them now just for fun, though, because I fondly remember the first time I cluelessly ran into this guy when I first started the game. The moral of the story is: save often!
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - CHEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!
That is without a doubt the most arrogant i have ever seen Patchy be. In fact it is quite an impressive feat to get her that arrogant. And fun to see her in a different way than i am used to imagining her. Just like the sad Meiling who seems to be the characterization in this game.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - CHEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!
Eh, I think I was picturing Patchy as an insufferable genius surrounded by idiots. And since I wasn't using Kaguya, I needed someone else to overdose this with tropes. But it takes too long to look up everything, so I would only ever do this with Patchy. The actual game dialogue portrays Patchy as a lot less arrogant than what I have, although she's really just there for lots and lots of boring exposition while Marisa and Reimu snark behind her back.
I still have no clue how I'm going to write Suwako, Meiling, and Suika right now. But with both Suwako and Cirno in the group, it shouldn't be too hard, right?
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - CHEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!
Not sure i can help. I only really know them from a variety of fanworks with inconsistent portrayal, also my take on them might not be anywhere near your. Doesn't help that i have really only seen one fanwork with Suwako in it, either. It was awesome, though.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - CHEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!
Really, Patchouli being uncaring about anything that is not a) herself and her research and b) Remilia, arrogant, and almost an insufferable genius, is pretty much canon (just read her dialogue in the fighting games, really) so I didn't think it odd in the least.
As for Meiling, Suika, and Suwako... well, as Terra said, everyone has their take, and you should do your take, not mine. But as for the canon materials, if it'll help you refresh an idea in your head:
Meiling seems to be a well-intentioned but unlucky everyman with a big sense of duty, kind of like Gumshoe in Ace Attorney, so you could play up the "I have no idea what we're doing here, but mistress said it was necessary, so I'm gonna do this even if I have to headbutt God in the face for it!" angle .
Suika... is a happy, meddlesome drunk generally out to find some fun or some trouble (because for her, those words are entirely interchangeable) but who is a lot sharper than she lets on. She may have a theory or two about what's really happening, but might be mostly tagging along for lulz.
And Suwa... well, there's no actual canon material on her.
__________________
There is no God but Haruhi, and Kyon is Her prophet.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - The Strongest Chapter!
Here's Chapter 3, covering the first half of Floor 2:
Spoiler
Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 3
A pleasure to meet you. I am Yuka Kazami, Flower Master of the Four Seasons and the strongest youkai in Gensokyo. The great portal that opened in the sky has had catastrophic effects upon the landscape of Gensokyo, decimating my precious flower fields. But I do not mourn nor weep, for in my aged wisdom I know that little good could come of depression. Instead, I react with the most efficient response known to Gensokyo: beautifully elegant violence. Human, youkai, it matters not: all are but expendible casualties in my game of vengeance. Take for example Chen, the little shikigami cat whom we had to discipline just recently. After we left her at the mansion and departed, I left behind my Dual Spell self to teach her not to cross our paths. My other self had her restrained with tendrils of brambles and proceeded to flay the fur off of her tails with a barrage of rose thorns.
That was a lie.
What we did do was proceed to the next floor.
We entered a chilly corridor that made us feel like it was the middle of winter. As the youkai of flowers, I simply cannot stand the cold, so whoever came up with this area shall surely feel my wrath.
As if to mock my intolerance of the cold, our oblivious mages thought it wise to halt our advance in order to finish preparing a magic circle to mark our progress.
Angered by their inexcusable refusal to acknowledge my plight, I had no choice but to convince them through my personal favorite means of coercion.
That, too, was a lie. My apologies, but I do so love teasing the weak. And there isn't anyone who's stronger than I.
Speaking of weaklings to tease, our party soon came upon Wriggle Nightbug, shivering in some cold corner. She begged us to help her capture four of her little insect pets that were scattered in the dungeon. Or were we to exterminate them? I usually get the two confused.
Not far beyond where we met Wriggle, we came upon a most peculiar sight.
The harvest goddess, Minoriko Aki, had become a divine popsicle. While I normally care little for those who are at the mercy of the strong, even my heart was moved to pity at the plight of a fellow avatar of nature. With my own hands, I tore apart the ice that had encased her. Unfortunately, the ice itself shattered from my strength, and Minoriko along with it. Soon there was nothing left of her but a bloody pile of ice crystals that smelled faintly of sweet potatoes.
Of course that was a lie.
Patchouli convinced us to let the frozen goddess be until after we find the culprit responsible for this mess. There was little doubt in any of our minds just who that was.
The weak little ice fairy who fancies herself to be strong dared to taunt us. Regrettably, we were in her icy domain. Her unnatural chill put a strain on both our bodies and our spirits. Knowing that she'd lose to us in a fair fight, that coward just kept running away and waiting for the cold to wear us down. In her haste she left behind something else encased in ice. I didn't have a chance to see what it was, for Suwako Moriya had immediately snatched it up.
For what felt like hours, we endured the biting cold to give chase. Along the way, many new monsters came to obstruct our path. Allow me to elaborate on the more dangerous threats.
The nekomata Shadowcats surprised us with their swift speed, outpacing even our fastest allies, so of course I myself had no hope of beating them in a race. Their quick Shadowstep attack inflicted only the most superficial of wounds, but threatened to stricken several people at once with paralysis. If no other enemies are present, then their threat is minimal, as the Shadowcats could not hope to bring any of us down on its own, but the danger of mass paralysis gave other more formidable foes more time to strike us down.
Bronze Sorceresses were also very agile, although not quite enough for the fastest of our group to outrun. Their ice magic may not be too dangerous for anyone not vulnerable to the cold, but an entire group of sorceresses appearing at once could decimate an unprepared group.
Eventually, we tracked down the annoying ice fairy and forced her to contend with us on our terms. However, her frosty aura had taken its toll on us. Having endured such punishing temperatures, our limbs felt stiff and rigid, and our movements languished as we tried to keep up with her brisk energy.
Of course, even these obstacles did nothing to stop my wrath. Here at last was the culprit responsible for my day's misery. For producing this terrible chill to harm my flowers, for freezing a kindred soul in ice, and for having the gall to proclaim herself to be stronger than I, she was to receive the most severe of punishments. This was to be no mere teasing; this was to be utter annihilation. I mercilessly blasted her frail little body with the most beautiful and deadly barrage that nature could wrought.
This was certainly no lie.
And yet, despite my indignation, I am forced to concede that even my assault paled in comparison to another's. Our little frog goddess struck with an intensity even greater than my own, as though she had a more severe vendetta against the idiot ice fairy.
With no more tricks up her sleeve, the fairy quickly succumbed to our relentless might. There was to be no mercy for the loser. At my insistance, we strung her up and left her to melt at the sunny spot on Floor 1. When this proved too slow, I ordered Patchouli to speed it up with Royal Flare. Once she had sufficiently melted, we served her up as part of the brew for our afternoon tea.
That was a lie. Or was it?
~ Yuka Kazami
A few more notes:
Spoiler
Yes, the 4th picture is me wiping out against Yuka in the post-game boss fight to recruit her. Master Spark is pretty much an automatic game over.
The enemies on Floor 2 can be pretty irritating. Shadowcats have a daunting 110 speed love to do a mass paralysis move, but the danger of this depends on whether or not there are other strong enemies. You can usually ignore killing them until the end, as by the time you get to attack they've already done their damage, and by themselves they're no threat. Bronze Sorceresses are also fast (104 speed) and will always cast Freezing Rain, a single-target ice spell. It'll 1-shot Chen, so keep her in 4th position if you're using her. Everyone else should be able to survive, although watch out for those groups of 4 Bronze Sorceresses at once. One other enemy I didn't write about is the Skeleton Ripper. They have 102 speed and use a fairly powerful single-target physical attack, which can 1-shot your weaker characters. Prioritize killing these guys first.
Cirno herself has a lot more HP than anything else you've faced so far (a total of 13200). However, her defense are barely any better than Meiling's, so your leveled-up attacks should be dealing some heavy damage. If you want, you can try using Remilia's Curse of Vlad Tepes and immediately healing away the poison and paralysis with Meiling's Healer, since Meiling should be just a bit slower than Remi. With the Curse active, Remi should be able to do 1600+ damage with each Spear the Gungnir, although you'll probably have to switch her out after 2 shots to recover SP. Don't worry, she'll still keep the buffs when switched out. Patchy of course can exploit Cirno's Fire weakness with 2k+ Royal Flares.
Cirno's spells aren't very strong, although since they're Cold elemental they probably will 1-shot Chen unless you equip the Frozen Frog you found on this floor (although even then it's iffy). The main danger comes from her status effects: most of Cirno's spells either paralyze or severely slow down your characters, sometimes hitting everyone at once. If Sakuya is at least level 10 with a few skill points invested in SP, she should have just enough (122 SP) to cast Luna Dial, giving a sweet +40% speed boost to all active party members. This can be helpful for countering Cirno's mass speed debuffs.
Here are my party levels just prior to the Cirno boss battle, for reference:
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - The Strongest Chapter!
I was picturing Yuka like her portrayal in Yuka vs. Yukari by Chado, although more polite, sedate, and not quite as insane. Yes, my Yuka is relatively stable compared to his.
Canonically, Yuka loves to lie to tease others, is a bit of a sadist, and has stated she considered genocide to be a fun game, so take it as you will.
I'm Cirno, the strongest in all of Gensokyo! Even when I lose, I have not truly lost! I can endure all that these idiots throw at me! Just look at how strong I am right now!
After the others beat me up a little, Reimu insisted that I go fix up whatever happened to that harvest goddess. It was certainly not my fault that she's weaker than me! The strong can do what they please. It doesn't matter how many times those idiots call me an idiot; it's the person who calls others an idiot that's the idiot!
Of course, I can't actually unfreeze anything, and when I do try I usually end up shattering it anyway. So by my generous mercy, I allowed Hong Meiling to carry the frozen goddess to a warm sunny patch on Floor 1, where she eventually thawed. Hooray! Now we can have her cook for us at the mansion!
Back on the second floor, we saw this huge insect! But it was no match for my Icicle Fall!
And then it got dark all of a sudden. I heard a familiar voice, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. The darkness soon passed anyway.
Finally, it was my time to shine! As we neared the stairs to the next floor, we came across a river that we couldn't cross. Because for some reason, no one could fly in this dungeon. I don't know why. But it's true! Anyway, it was my turn to show my great power: I froze the river to let us cross! I'm so strong!
But then that idiot Youmu showed up! She accused us of being the culprits behind this incident!
Of course she wouldn't listen to us, because she's an idiot, jumping to conclusions like that. Both she and her ghost half attacked us at once! But of course I wasn't scared! The strongest never gets scared!
Uuuwaah, a bunch of stuff happened! I only noticed three things: showers of cherry blossoms, frantic wind rushing past me, and cold steel slashing across my chest. Ooowwwiiieeee!!! It was hard for me to keep standing after that. Sakuya did this thing with her pocketwatch to speed us up, and Meiling tried to get in Youmu's way, but she easily struck us all at once regardless. Remi and Suika aimed for Youmu's ghost half first, because it was spewing some sort of strange fog that made me feel really bad. But when we managed to beat that ghost, Youmu stepped it up and did this crazy sort of slash thing that brought Meiling to her knees!
I think I blacked out around this time, because I don't remember much more afterwards. Remi later said that she waited for Youmu to slow down and recover after each sword technique to have everyone attack her at her weakest. In the end, we still won! That's what you get for messing with the strongest!
But...I think I'd like to rest for a little longer before we go exploring again.
~ Cirno
Notes:
Spoiler
Youmu will probably be the first really challenging boss for most players. She's fairly fast and possesses average defenses with a solid 24,000 HP and no elemental weaknesses at all. Her ghost half has 8,800 HP and is weak to Spirit magic. Both are slightly more vulnerable to magic than physical attacks, and Youmu herself is somewhat susceptible to paralysis and debuffs.
The danger from this fight comes from Youmu's arsenal of strong attacks combined with Myon's ability to cause some nasty status effects. Myon uses mostly Cold-elemental multi-target spells, but can also cause single-target paralysis. In addition, it can use Strange Mist, which causes minimal damage but inflicts a powerful party-wide poison that can bring anyone down to 1 HP in just one or two rounds. With Meiling as your only way to heal status effects, it would be wise to quickly eliminate Myon before your entire team gets crippled by poison and paralysis.
In the beginning of the fight, Youmu will use mostly Present Life Slash and Flashing Cherry Blossoms. Present Life Slash is single-target for ~150-200 damage and will usually target whoever's in the first position, so put Meiling in front to keep damage to a minimum. Flashing Cherry Blossoms is fairly powerful and hits all active party members equally for Nature-elemental damage, likely 1-shotting weaker defense characters like Chen and Patchy. It's best to keep such characters in reserve until after Youmu uses a strong attack that depletes her active guage, then switch them in to attack and switch out just before Youmu's next attack. Minoriko is useful as your dedicated healer for much of this fight, as she can easily heal any single-targetted damage and she resists Nature attacks. However, her defense is still pretty poor, so you may want to use her DEF/MND buff too. Youmu may also use Focus during this portion of the fight. It raises her MND, but do not let your guard down. Heal your tank and switch out anyone without high defense and HP immediately, because Youmu's next attack will be God's Slash of Karma Wind, an even more powerful Wind-elemental multi-target attack.
When Youmu gets low on HP, she'll replace Present Life Slash with Slash of Eternity, which can hit Meiling for 400-450 damage and probably 1-shot most other characters. She'll also start using God's Slash of Karma Wind without warning. Both of these attacks have long delays, so take the opportunity to switch in all available damage dealers after each attack and try to finish her as soon as possible. Expect to lose some allies; this was the first boss fight where I had multiple characters die on this playthrough.
Youmu has a 25% chance of dropping a Blade Cuisinart. It has pretty good stats for this portion of the game, but it also drops from regular enemies on floors 8 and 11, so it's probably not worth farming it right now. I didn't bother getting it on this playthrough.
My characters were all level 10-11 for the Youmu fight, but you might want to be one level higher if you're not confident for this battle.
Intrepid reporter Aya Shameimaru here, bringing you the latest headlines from inside the strange space of Gensokyo!
EXPEDITION TEAM REACHES FLOOR 3
The brave party from Gensokyo reached Floor 3 of the dungeon in the sky earlier this morning. To their suprise, they discovered a charming little city. When interviewed, local aristocrat Remilia Scarlet said she had plans to set up a villa here as a vacation home. Building permits still pending.
OBSTRUCTION DELAYS EXPLORATION
The Gensokyo Expedition Team soon came across the stairs to the next floor, but they were stopped by local doll maniac Alice Margatroid. Alice confessed to sabotaging the magic circle necessary to proceed, and sent the team on a wide goose chase to defeat the four dolls she had scattered around the area in order to restore the seal.
When questioned further on her actions, she had this to say:
"I'm investigating the source of this incident. Reimu is a prime suspect, so I need her detained while I conduct my investigations. Hey, why are you even interviewing me? Aren't you with Reimu?"
This reporter would like to re-affirm her neutrality in any such matters.
HATE CRIMES AGAINST TENGU ESCALATE
Tragedy struck this morning as the villainous Gensokyo Exploration Team brutally massacred a group of Tengu in the city of Lea Monde. Claims that the attacks were made in self-defense have not been substantiated.
The Tengu retaliated with their immense speed, harassing the advancing party with powerful gusts. None were available for comment.
MYSTERIOUS SWITCH DOES NOTHING
Local shrine maiden Reimu tells of a mysterious switch that beckoned her to press it for no discernable reason.
These switches, scattered throughout Floor 3 and the areas of Floor 4 not blocked off by resident conspiracy theorist Alice Margatroid, have not been confirmed to do anything even after being pressed.
Complaints to whoever designed this dungeon have not been addressed.
YOUKAI OF DARKNESS EXTERMINATED
Local youkai of darkness Rumia appeared before the Gensokyo Expedition Team this afternoon.
Rumia demanded the immediate surrender of one red-white shrine maiden to satiate her appetite for human flesh. Do note that top Gensokyo researchers warn that eating red-white shrine maidens can cause clogged arteries, cirrhosis of the liver, and erectile disfunction. Health experts suggest blue-white shrine maidens as part of a balanced diet.
A violent struggle immediately ensued. Local red-white shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei subdued Rumia with a binding circle while her associates administered physical punishment. The youkai of darkness retaliated with crippling magic, but was not able to overcome her opponents.
Upon defeat, Rumia was promised human flesh from the Scarlet Devil Mansion's kitchen. Local vampire Remilia Scarlet declined to comment.
FAMILIAR FIRE DEMON EXTINGUISHED, ONE CASUALTY
The Gensokyo Expedition Team's advance was further halted by a second magic seal that obstructed a portion of Floor 3. According to local magic expert Patchouli Knowledge, this "Chamomile Sigil" was linked to a nearby guardian.
The Expedition Team found the Chamomile Sigil's guardian on the 4th floor, and launched an assault. The Sigil's guardian returned fire with a raging inferno that ravaged the party's forces and melted one ice fairy.
Auxiliary forces quickly doused the flames and tended to the injured. After the initial wave, the intensity of the flames died down dramatically, with a periodic spike at fixed intervals. No further lives were lost.
Shiva was unavailable for comment.
~ Aya Shameimaru
Some brief notes:
Spoiler
The Small Tengu enemies are very annoying due to their high speed. You need at least 108 speed to keep up with them. I gave Sakuya some speed boost items, and she was able to sweep them with Soul Sculpture.
A pair of pretty easy bosses in this segment. Rumia has 3 main attacks. Moonlight Ray is mystic-elemental and single target, and only did ~100 damage to Meiling (whose MND isn't even that good). Dark Side of the Moon is somewhat dangerous, doing ~200 damage to all party members and possibly ignorming MND, but Rumia doesn't use it often. When she's low on health, she gets Demarcation, which does pitiful damage but lowers all stats of all characters. This tends to be only a slight inconvenience, as she's low enough on health that another round of attacks should finish her off anyway. She's also vulnerable to Spirit magic and paralysis.
The Chamomile Sigil guardian, Ifrit, has only one dangerous attack: Flowing Hellfire. It will always start the battle with it, and it'll use 3 other attacks before using it again. It'll easily 1-shot most weaker characters (so don't leave Cirno in like I did), but its other attacks are weak. Switch out weak characters just before each Flowing Hellfire, and switch them in right afterwards to cram in as much damage before the next big wave.
Quite happy i voted for Aya. These news are pretty hilarious, especially some of the more ludicrous spin she put on some of it. Well that and the absurd health recommendations...but how does she know about erectile dysfunction? There are no men in Gensokyo!
Quite happy i voted for Aya. These news are pretty hilarious, especially some of the more ludicrous spin she put on some of it. Well that and the absurd health recommendations...but how does she know about erectile dysfunction? There are no men in Gensokyo!
Yes there are. It's just they're a downtrodden minority with little to no rights . See - poor Rinnosuke and how he gets scammed and abused by everyone and gets no chance to actually protest .
As for today's episode - pretty nice. Aya putting her completely unabashed bias on everything was funny. I can certainly see why her newspaper sells...
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There is no God but Haruhi, and Kyon is Her prophet.
I see that health experts don't like Sanae that much.
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Yet another Touhou fan in the playground.
I'm the strongest, but don't call me an idiot or I'll cyro-freeze you together with some English Beef. - Cirno Avatar by me, assassin8⑨
This is brilliant. I'm playing this game now for the first time, so the notes are actually quite helpful, but the characterization makes it so much more fun.
As for how to characterize Suika, you could always do the whole thing in the style of a drunken Facebook update.
"so reimu seid i gotta take a turn writing down whats happening... ITS SO MUCH FUN GUYS!!!! theres this other world and EVERYON WANTS TO FIGHT you but most of them arent real strong MY SAKE NOT EVEN DROP"
...actually, might be unwise to do that. It could get irritating rather quickly, and Suika's more of a happy drunk than an out-of-control drunk most of the time anyway.
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Patchouli Knowledge avatar courtesy of the skillful Prime32.
"Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment."
--C. S. Lewis
"The first person to prove that cow's milk is drinkable was very, very thirsty."
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Why Don't I Miss You A Lot Forever?
As you may have guessed, I'm still experimenting with ways to do this. Today's segment took much longer than the previous ones to make, but if people like it I'll try to do more in the future.
Spoiler
Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 6
Good evening. I am Remilia Scarlet, mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Flandre here! Hi everyone!
We bring you greetings from the heart of Floor 4, a beautifully symmetric cathedral, as we prepare to confront our next biggest challenge.
This place is so pretty! There's shiny columns and crystal lights like my wings!
Control yourself, Flan dear. As I'm sure you're all aware of, lately we've been having some problems with a certain doll maniac. Thinking we were somehow responsible for this incident, she blocked the way to Floor 5 and sent us on a wild chase to find her 4 dolls.
It was like hide-and-go-seek! I love hide-and-go-seek!
Yes, Flan, I'm sure you had a lot of fun, but for us grown-ups it was quite a chore.
Stop calling yourself a grown-up! You're only 5 years older than me!
It's not the age, dear, it's the mileage. Anyway, after defeating the Chamomile Sigil's guardian, we were able to access all 4 of Alice's dolls.
There were so cute! I wanted to play with them some more!
They were aesthetically pleasing, but they lacked any power to back them up. Truly unfitting for a world such as Gensokyo.
They go "POP!" when I squeeze them! Look at me go!
Speaking of arbitrary quests involving killing 4 weak enemies, we also managed to track down the last of those insects Wriggle told us about.
We popped those too!
It baffled me just why Wriggle was so upset that we exterminated them all. Isn't that what we're suppose to do to bugs? Her complaints were getting a bit annoying, so we had to have Yuka show her how to properly respect her social superiors.
Miss Yuka looked like she had fun! I wanted to join in too! Why didn't you let me, sis?
You'll understand when you're older, dear.
Uuuuu! You always say that!
We really should be moving on with the story, Flan. Look! There's someone for you to play with!
Yay! She brought more dolls for me to play with! Hey, sis, won't you play with us too?
Of course, Flan dear. She deserves to be richly rewarded for the way she's been arrogantly acting. We'll show her the fruits of such libel.
But sis, it'd be boring to just show a few pictures of her attacking us! That's no fun at all!
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Her Sake NOT EVEN DROP!
This section took longer than I expected. I originally planned to just use screenshots, but I had so much fun with one of the bosses that I just had to make a video for it.
Spoiler
Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 7
Hi there all! Suika Ibuki here, ready to fill you in on an exciting day spent in the strange space of Gensokyo! Pardon me if I ramble a bit...I had a lot to drink today. And how could I not, when we discovered an entire floor that smelled of sake?
Luckily, I asked Patchy to proofread this for me beforehand. I hope this wasn't too incomprehensible for her to read. (Editor's note: You owe me one, you drunk oni.)
So after we got Alice to join us, our party numbered up to 12! check out our group picture!
Don't I look cute in the center there?
But...allow me to let you in on two little secrets. One is that ever since I entered this strange space, I've been seeing things. Everyone tells me I've just been hallucinating from drinking too much, but I don't think that's it; I mean, I always drink this much. It's weird, I keep seeing these numbers everywhere, and I think I'm starting to figure out what it all means. For example, next to everybody I see some big number following the letters "HP", and a smaller number following an "SP". I also see lots of other numbers with labels on them, such as "level", "STR", "DEF", and so forth. The cool part is, even if the others don't believe me, I think I've figured out what they all mean! (Editor's note: You really are drunk, aren't you?)
Which brings me to my next point: those numbers are lower than I'd like them to be. While it's fun and all to try and save Gensokyo as a big happy group, I don't really think everyone here is up to snuff. So many of us are out of shape from not participating in the latest incidences, it's no wonder we all started at level 1. And then there are those of us who are just plain lazy, i.e. Reimu. Don't get me wrong, Reimu's a great friend who lets me mooch off of what little food she has at the shrine, but she's just not motiviated enough to tackle an incident as big as this. The rest of the party is just... (Editor's note: The rest of this paragraph is illegible.)
I really, really want to get everyone to try harder and become stronger, but no one would listen to me. I tried to toughen them up against the monsters on Floor 5, but they just kept complaining about how fast those birds dive-bombing birds are, or how those rabbit girls kept sniping us.
Luckily, I just came up with a plan help us out, but I'll get to it in a minute. First let me tell you about all the other cool things on this floor! (Editor's note: You were behind this all along?!?)
Since we found ourselves next to a riverbed on this stage, we saw a few frogs hopping up out of the waters. Cirno spent some time freezing them. It was pretty funny! Their eyes would bulge and then they'd suddenly stop! Ha, what fun! We carried a few with us as good luck charms. The little goddess from the mountain would always refuse them for some reason, though. What's up with her?
We came across two more magic sigils that blocked the two paths up to the 6th floor. It took some searching, but we eventually found the first sigil's guardian at the southeast corner of Floor 5. This was the Fern Sigil's guardian, and man was it easy!
Its attacks were weaksauce, and the worst thing it could do was completely drain the SP of every active party member. But all we had to do was switch in a fresh set of attackers to finish it off. It did heavily resist every single element, but we had enough folks with non-elemental attacks to beat it down quickly.
Even though we had an easy victory, I still felt uneasy about how we've been doing. Fortunately, I did have a great plan! You see, while we were exploring, we came upon the most amazing thing ever: a spring that poured forth sake!
As you can imagine, our party had a great time! We took a break from the expedition and just spent the afternoon sipping delicious sake. Of course I joined in, but first I had to do something else: I needed to call in a friend. (Editor's note: I knew it!)
My old friend Yuugi Hoshiguma is one of the strongest people I know! I'm sure she could whip this rag-tag bunch into shape in no time! I asked her to come on over and have a fun sparring match with the gang. Of course, I promised her all the free sake she could drink afterwards. Yuugi was delighted by my proposal of both sport and drink, and she immediately headed on over.
Editor's note: How dare you try to make me exercise!?! Just because I spent the past century learning to shape the elements to my will rather than, say, jogging, doesn't mean you can suddenly play exercise guru!
Notes:
Spoiler
For the normal enemies on Floor 5, the Tiger Lotus Birds are extremely fast and can 1-shot weaker characters with Swoop. They're also resistant to wind, so even if Aya can outspeed them she can't kill them easily. Chen's your best bet for taking them down before they hit you.
The Fern Sigil guardian, St. Elmo's Fire, is very easy. It only has 24,000 HP and fairly low defense. It only takes 20% damage from any elemental attack, though, so Remilia, Chen, Alice, Sakuya, Youmu, and Patchouli will be your best damage dealers for the fight with their non-elemental spells. It can also use Destroy Magic to drain all SP from all active characters, but you can just switch in a fresh group of 4 to continue the assault. Its attacks are pretty weak. Since it's so easy, I'd recommend farming it for its 25% drop rate on Miraculous Flame, an equipment that grants a sizable +8 TP. Great for low TP characters like Patchy to keep them around longer when sweeping floor trash. Just remember to replace it with something else for boss fights.
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Her Sake NOT EVEN DROP!
Brilliant. Something tells me that Patchouli and Vaarsuvius would have a lot to commiserate about over drinks if they ever met. Heck, they might even be able to learn a trick or two from each other- let's see Marisa steal those books after Patchouli has made judicious use of Explosive Runes...
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Patchouli Knowledge avatar courtesy of the skillful Prime32.
"Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment."
--C. S. Lewis
"The first person to prove that cow's milk is drinkable was very, very thirsty."
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Her Sake NOT EVEN DROP!
My favorite portrayal of Suika is the doujin Miko Miko Suika by Haniwa's Store, so that's what I was trying to think of for this segment. She's very eager to help Reimu and is surprisingly competent, but gets somewhat frustrated by Reimu's laid-back attitude. She's also incredibly cute in that one.
Right now I just want to get the next few floors over with ASAP, as I find floor 6 very boring and floor 7 very frustrating. Floor 8 at least has fun boss battles, and floor 9 is where the game introduces something resembling plot, with the first mandatory plot-important boss fight (sort of how like the bosses in each Touhou game don't have anything to do with the story until stage 3/4).
Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Sakuya-san, Room Cleaning Stop!
Like many other Touhou fans, I've been rather distracted by the new releases at Reitaisai this past weekend, so I apologize for a somewhat late update. Floor 6 is kind of short anyway.
Spoiler
Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 8
Ugh...no one really cares about me, do they? I'm just some wall for people to stand behind and take punishment, right? I'm not even a masochist, like a certain Celestial, yet they still make me do this. I've done so much for my mistress already, even to the point of fighting a giant catfish! Yet why do they still not acknowledge me?
My name is Hong Meiling. That's H-O-N-G M-E-I-L-I-N-G.
But everyone here doesn't seem to notice that. They make me do all the menial tasks, too. Just look at this! They give me the most boring floor to write about!
No interesting puzzles, no remarkable foes, and just a re-hash of a previous boss. I suppose I do appreciate not being placed in any dangerous situations thus far today, but it feels like no matter what I still get the short end of the stick.
I suppose something interesting did happen here, though. We ran into, um...uh...sorry, what was her name again? Oh yes, Iku Nagae. Sorry, I wasn't around during the Scarlet Weather incident for some reason.
The Messenger of the Dragon Palace, as she is called, came to warn us that the wayward Celestial, Tenshi Hinanai (that was her name, right?) had wandered into the strange space for some reason. Knowing her, Iku suspected some sort of mischief, and cautioned us to be on the look-out for her antics.
Other than that, we had to defeat the guardian of the Anemone Sigil, the second sigil on Floor 5 that blocked the path to the other half of Floor 6. Here I was expecting some sort of super-exciting (but hopefully not too dangerous) enemy, but all I get is this:
The same boss again? Sure it has a few flunkies now, but that doesn't change much. It does not seem to have grown much stronger, although it still used that irritating magic drain spell.
And...that's pretty much it. The unlocked Anemone Sigil lead to a straightforward segment of Floor 6 with no events at all between us and the stairs to the next floor. Eh...this just seems so boring. Why do I get stuck with the worst floor?
Oh?
Reimu tells me she found something interesting, let me go see!
Uh...are you guys sure this is all right? I mean, didn't we learn our lesson about these things back on Floor 1?
Come on! Lady Patchouli, surely you of all people know not to be tampering with things like this?
Why won't anyone listen to me? I'm the one who always has to suffer every time we do this!
~ Hong "Not China" Meiling
No notes, because this really is the most boring floor yet.
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Re: Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - ½ + ½ = ⑨?
. 
. See - poor Rinnosuke and how he gets scammed and abused by everyone and gets no chance to actually protest 
