Previously on first part: Reimu Hakurei touched a golden artifact with the shape of ball that belong to Rinnosuke Morichika. Then a giant beam blast from the golden ball and Rinnosuke turns weird and evil. He defeat Reimu but she manages to escape to Hakurei Shrine. Along the way, she met Mononobe no Futo and she become Reimu's companion. Next morning, Reimu and Futo go to mysterious Giant Tower that's once where Rinnosuke's shop located. On their journey, they discover a village resided by Youkai(s) and do little shopping there.
Welp! Futo is down because Tojiko clone keep shooting her with lightning from distance. I heard theory that Soga no Tojiko becomes ghost due to Futo's sabotage on her ritual hibernation so her clones pretty much have reasonable hatred toward Futo. On tutorial, i got spellcard to revive partner but i don't have it anymore because my inventory got rollback at the starting of this chapter. Do you remember about small shrine that doesn't do anything? Turns out if i touch it, it will resurrect my KO'ed partner. So everything turn out fine. :)
In this dungeon, i find clone of Youmu Konpaku that has ability to spawn her half ghost and it seems pose no threat whatsoever. Sometime there's close up image of anyone who cast spell including enemies. Youmu close up image is...rather risqué as her cloth's buttons seems missing so you can see her chest partially if you look the screenshot hard enough as the image is transparent a bit at this moment.
There's crossroad between Genbu (which is based on 4 mythological beasts of Chinese Constellation: Black Tortoise of The North) Ravine and Canal of Willows (where we came from) and one of the path leads to Aya Shameimaru's house. Of course, Aya isn't there because i saw her on Youkai village and she probably still sniffing around there for gossip on her newspaper.
It was convenient of me to have portable tatami and seat everytime i eat food item. I don't want to eat my food while standing/sitting on water. It's generally not good. By the way, you don't need to worry about Futo's hunger, she's fine because she used to do ritual fasting, probably.
Here's the special image of Futo. It's as not risqué as Youmu's unless you think small part of bare thigh is too vulgar. Also her butt curve is visible. Is it possible for it to be visible on loose skirt like that though?
I reckon Genbu Ravine isn't sea but for some reason Minamitsu Murasa's (who's sea ghost) clones dwell here. Plus they hit me with anchor. Rude!
Arrgh! Goddamn you Sakuya and your ability to manipulate time! 3X
Pass the Genbu Ravine there's another crossroad. I went to Marisa Kirisame's house and hoping i get some aid from my best bud but she isn't here. As for Aya, i can only meet Marisa in her house when this incident is over or so the commentary said.
Also good thing that i have my futon when i'm inflicted with "Sleep" status by Lily White (trap version). I leave this fight to you, Futo! While i have some sweet dream about Gensokyo's peace and my donation box will be full with money. :3
Oh hi, Alice Margatroid clone! So you summon your doll against me? No. She only summon robot clone of herself. Clone creates clone? It's cloneception!
I have quite money on my bag so i reckon i want to go back to do more shopping. Thus i hit the "give up" button on game menu and...i regret it as my money turns to 0 plus our level back to 1, the same case with dying. But our status doesn't all back to square one. Our equipment's level remain the same where we left off. So it's quite something.
This is new. "Pandemonium" event happens that spawn lots enemies and items suddenly. Also there's red mist covers entire dungeon's floor. Fortunately our equipment are overpowered enough for enemies in this floor.
Besides weapon and shield, we can also equip charm (which is basically accessory) one at the time. The enhancement with yellow box on it (called "Ability"), is attached to this equipment only. The enhancement with green box on it (called "Resonance"), only active if you equip another piece of equipment that has the same green enhancement. The enhancement with pink circle on it (called "Seal") can be inherited to other equipment via fusion command from Nito Fusion. Some equipment doesn't have Seal at all but has unoccupied Seal slot instead. The equipments have their own property such as Momiji's shield has damage taken reduction or this Sanae Kochiya's hairclip can reduce damage taken from God-type enemies (such as: Shizuha sisters or Shikieki Yamaxanadu). The most amusing to me is Lily White's hat that has ability to instant kill Cirno or Letty Whiterock and turns them into "Water" item.
Much later...
Then i fall into dimensional hole trap. Curse you, Yukari Yakumo! But i can skip to next floor swiftly. Scout_thanks02.wav
Near the Kourin Tower, we met Nitori Kawashiro and she kindly invited us to her underwater base or to be more specific submarine or so she said. She also offer us lodging with fee 1,500 Yen which is the same fee with Keine Kamishirasawa inn's fee. Plus she repairs the Nito Fusion even more so we can mix some materials to make useable items.
There's also Mamizou that willing to take shop near Rinnosuke's shop (which is the base of Kourin Tower). I mean really close like in front of its door! Selling items and bamboo shoots that i don't use, sounds good but i miss Minoriko Aki's ability to change them into red bean cake, so much. So we enter Kourin shop and we find some golden entrance. Once we enter it...
...we're in Scarlet Devil Mansion (often abbreviated as "SDM"), miraculously! It's inhabitated by Blonde Sakuya and Meiling. The most baffling to me is: there's bamboo shoots grows inside of this SDM's interior! Imagine bamboo shoots grow on mansion or villa! Ok, let's move on! This blue-haired Koakuma can heal her friends, Blonde Meiling can make herself invincible to my Danmaku, and Patchouli can explode herself, damaging anyone in her vicinity! This place seems too much for my level.
Being hit with explosion or burned by Fujiwara no Mokou, affects my inventory. Noticeably: Red Bean Cakes. They will turn into grilled variant which is good as they also refill my HP besides Tummy. If the grilled cakes caught explosion or fire, they will turn into burnt variant which is bad food item. My suggestion is: leave the bean cakes in your inventory while put the grilled ones into Preserve Gap.
The SDM "dungeon" seems too much for me so i return to my shrine. I notice that i haven't equipped the Exorcism Rod 99 that i got from extorting Mamizou in first time. Guess what? It sucks. It has great base damage of: 50 points but it has "Mercy" property that reduces the attacking power greatly! Crime really doesn't pay, huh?
Rolling back to Hakurei
Shrine obviously makes my level turns into 1 again thus decreasing my maximum
HP. But i can increase it by drinking Dokudami Tea. I approve this because i'm
tea lover. c:
I find this unique spellcard that increase capacity of Gap of my choosing, by 1. Engineer_mvm_loot_common02.wav.
Much later...
See that bamboo shoot on left-bottom side of the screen! You thought, i was crazy or delusional but no i told you the truth! Anyway, as you expect from SDM you will encounter clone of Remilia Scarlet the head family of SDM. As she's vampire, she can sucks your blood to replenish her health. This fight can be atrocious but Futo has been holding silver knife all along that has property to deal increased damage to vampires also nullifies life draining ability of hers. Also Patchouli clone keep coughing and receive damage by herself. This is running joke about Patchouli Knowledge has chronic asthma because her title is "Unmoving Great Library" and like to shut herself in library of SDM. Therefore many fans depict her has bad health condition.
Remember when i said Youmu clone's ability to spawn her half ghost upon demise, seems unthreatening? Turns out, it will possess any enemies and raise their level. Komachi and her clones has ability to manipulate space, therefore they have ability to teleport you to their location at will, which means bad because we had hard time to escape this powered up Komachi! In the end, i have to retreat, again. But this time i use Jump "Return of Hakurei" spellcard. I lose my progress and level but at least i keep my hefty money back to home!
Much later (again)...
This is also new. Mamizou Futatsuiwa and her friend set a shop in middle of maze! I know that Crypt of The NecroDancer has in-maze shop but this is the first time i experience it myself. Because they set the shop in maze, you're not 100% safe here. Enemies can spawn in the middle of it although if they hit one of shopkeeper, she will attack them but you don't get EXP from defeated enemies. Fair enough. The way the shop works is rather unique. The shopkeepers will block entrances if you pick one of their merchandise and ask for payment. You can try to fight them if you want but i choose not to because they run fair business. No need to resort in useless violence, right? Mutual cooperation is the only way to go in my opinion. You can also replace their merchandise with item you want to sell here.
I found Tengu Shield which has more useful property than heavy stone that Futo equips. Once i fusion the shield (as base) with the stone, it's not only inherit the stone's seal but also its level, thus enhancing its ability and defense power. Heavy_goodjob01.wav
If you ever tired navigating maze's layout, here's spellcard that perfect for you. "Berliner Mauer" spellcard will destroy all of the wall and the automap will instantly reveals stair to next floor and items, which is handy. Enemies will come at you in every direction now that the walls are gone but i reckon it's perfect opportunity to apply "Youkai Buster" danmaku. The wall breaker spellcard's name definitely refers to Berlin Wall. Did you know that there's an arcade game with that name? Because it exists.
Most traps will harms you if you trigger it. Meanwhile, this Rinnosuke's trap can be use for you advantage. It will replace 1 random item in your inventory with cold hard cash. It's quite helpful if you're out of space in your inventory (maximum capacity is: 30). But if it gets one of Preserve Gap with very useful provisions within, well big bummer! By the way, you can detect trap by swinging your weapon around. Who need thief-class person anyway?
Okay, i press on and arrive at the shop which run by Robot Rinnosuke. He's cooperated enough to provide shop and lodging for us. This is the last shop on the chapter so shop until you drop!
Oh no! Here comes your evil clone, Futo. Actually she's not big deal compare to other resident of this dungeon. Do you notice that i bring bottle of champagne as weapon? I bought it on vending machine near Hakurei Shrine on last return. It cost fairly expensive but it's quite worth it especially when i wear "Oni Cup" accessory that allows me to have "Resonance" buffs that nullify "drunk" status plus increased my accuracy while i'm at it and increase my attack when i wear two handed weapon like this bottle of champagne. I forget to tell you that besides equipping weapon and shield, i can either dual-wield two weapons or equip special two-handed weapon. Needless to say that, by wearing two-handed weapon, i sacrifice my opportunity to wield shield that can definitely boost defense power. But the "Oni Cup" accessory boosts my defense power. So it's compensated, i think.
Shocking twist! Kasen Ibaraki has defeated Rinnosuke and take the golden ball. Destroying the ball right now is pointless. We have to destroy the ball along with power magic that possess Rinnosuke. Therefore we have to separate it from him by beating the hell out of him. That's the kind of plan that i like! :)
Later...
Die, monster! You don't
belong to this world! Ehmm. I mean. Prepare yourself, Rinnosuke! For now, he's
content with sitting on his luxury throne and let his robots deal with us. But
he provides them with buffs to give us trouble even more.
Futo beats him until his HP reaches 0 but he goes Super Saiyan completes with gold armor. This time he walks up to us while keep summoning his robots and give them buffs as always. He's more serious threat if he manages to close on me because i'm not so good at taking damage (because i don't wear shield, remember?). But eventually we can defeat him.
So that's the thing that possess Rinnosuke. It resemble Angra Mainyu from Fate/Stay series. Although i know it first from Battle Moon War but you get the idea, right? So, yeah. That thing is big and nasty. Let's roll!
WHAT THE FREAK!!! It's
extremely powerful! It loves to fill my screen with explosion whenever it gets
turn. I notice some fatal mistake that i made. I ate too much grilled red bean
cake to fill my HP! I should just wait for my HP to regenerate and ungrilled
eat red bean cake to fill my stomach occasionally. In this intense boss battle,
i have very small chance to regenerate my HP peacefully thus i must resort to
healing items! Also throwing explosive drugs (that i keep it from the very
beginning of our journey) at him, seems deal no damage at all! So i get knocked
out due to mainly lack of healing items. Oh, duh! I forget that i can mix
materials to make healing items by using Nito Fusion. In case you wonder, why i'm sleeping in the middle of crucial fight. That's because of the effect of Soul Gap. It allows me to heal to fullest if i put any item into it. But once i put item on last place of its capacity, i fall asleep for lots of turn.
Much much later...
Byakuren Hijiri clones can buff themselves with Superhuman physical abilities that not only increase their attacking power but also increase their chance to dodge our attack! That sound intimidating but the most dangerous enemy in this "dungeon" is Tojiko's clones. They defeat other inhabitant to raise their level! My advice is: keep lots of Misfortune Talisman that can decrease enemy's level by 1 tier upon throwing (and hit obviously). You probably notice that Futo wield smartphone as her weapon now. I bought handheld radio from Robot Rinnosuke and upon leveling up it turns into flip phone and finally smartphone! It's quite amusing to see change on equipments when they get level up.
Second try on final boss goes better... a bit. That's because i manage to stock more healing item this round. But we still have very hard time to defeat him and finally i notice something very important. The final boss takes turn twice as much as us! Is it because we're two and the final boss only sole creature? Not really! It can summon regular enemies (which can be dealt pretty easily) at us! It's just total schmuck that's why! To make things slightly better, i use some revival spellcard that can resurrect Futo and give her invulnerability for some turns.
I'm not going to lie. This final boss battle is pretty frustrating. But i get some amusement to see it turns into Mickey Mouse before spawns enemies, traps, and few pickup item. In the end, i have to escape again. I have to bring this 16,635 Yen with me safely. Besides i'm out of reviving spellcard. This is my main problem that i encounter: Futo can't heal himself! I'm willing to sacrifice my healing items for her but what she can do is basically attack enemies. There's some healing items that can heal both of us but they're very rare.
I discover that if i invest money on the Kappa's workshop i can gain certain benefit depends on who get my investment. The kappa on left, can warp me to various point for free. But for my current investment she can only take me back to Hakurei Shrine. Kappa on center can erase "Seal" on equipment if she get enough money. Kappa on right can upgrade my equipment even further if she get more investment. Rather than losing my money in vain, i should just give all of my saving to these guys. Money can also be used for shopping, sure. But the prices are fairly cheap and you can only buy 1 item once. It's not like shops on JRPG that have unlimited merchandise. No. So i end up with excessive money most of the time on my journey.
They also made this storage besides providing me with free teleportation. How nice of them! I can make up new layer of strategy: i will hoard as many as important provisions (preferably the rare healing item that can heal both of us) and deposit them here instead of putting them on Preserve Gap that can vanish if i trigger Rinnosuke's trap. I will continue this game, out of record. So that's it for now.
Aqua Style's Touhou
Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- (2018) is quite something for me. That's
because i rarely play dungeon explore game with rogue element plus the game has
Touhou Project element. The combat is
pretty good although there's problem with some enemies (e.g. clone of Iku Nagae
and Byakuren Hijiri) has ability to dodge normal attack and i don't think i
find a way to overcome that. The equipment system is simple and pretty unique.
Finding the proper equipment "set" that can unlock necessary
"Resonance" enhancement could be problem because loots are -needless
to say- entirely random. Except some equipment that on shops. The enemies are
well varied by their ability and accurate to the nature of their origin. The
same thing goes to the traps. There's no button to run but there's quick speed
movement that will stop when you hit wall or meet crossroad. Thus navigating
maze feels easier. Or if you really fed up with maze layout just use the
spellcard that destroy all the wall. There's no random invisible encounter
(except for Nitori's clones that wear camouflaging device). You can see the
enemies just fine but do mind that they spawn randomly on the map. The automap
can be annoying because it obscure your screen but i can get used to it. Sadly,
there's no 2-way portal like in Diablo
or Torchlight II even though i really
need it in here. The spellcards are all usefull on their own way and not just
for damaging enemies for example there's spellcard that makes all enemies on
the floor fall asleep or confused thus fight between themselves. But the victor
will goes level up so i don't recommend that you put "confused"
status on all enemies. The difficulty curve is pretty smooth but goes skyrocket
with the final boss. Yes, i aware that it's natural for the final boss to be
overpowered but this is still in first chapter! I know that i'm not supposed to speedrun this
and take more time. It's quite a shame that there's no description of what the Gap's function on inventory menu. The ratio of "dungeon" exploring to the story
narration is way too big for me. I love to see more of character interaction
here. I assume that either Marisa or Aya will joins me on next chapter but they
have to wait before i can beat that damn big thing. The soundtracks are pretty
good. I particularly like the one in Genbu Ravine. It's surprising to witness nice Voice Acting in this game although it's fangame. The sound effects are clear
and good.
I think Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- (2018) is worth my time and money. So i guess it get my recommendation. If you're: A) Touhou Project Fans, B) Dungeon explore genre lover, C) Both. You should play it. I mentioned before that i'm not hardcore shmup gamer thus i can't really get into Touhou Project original games. But i can play more of this game even though there's freaking unfair boss. Because the game has spellcard that destroy walls, visible encounter, and boss. I can say that this game is better than Inindo!
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