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BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
Hahaha, really? I'm just bringing Sunny? What is she even supposed to do by herself.

Also Reimu is totally going to solo 22 Lunatic.

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a cartoon duck
Sep 5, 2011

BlitzBlast posted:

Hahaha, really? I'm just bringing Sunny? What is she even supposed to do by herself.

Also Reimu is totally going to solo 22 Lunatic.

That's literally the only part of the LP I cared to hear.

Shei-kun
Dec 2, 2011

Screw you, physics!

BlitzBlast posted:

Hahaha, really? I'm just bringing Sunny? What is she even supposed to do by herself.
Be an Advance Wars APC.

"Look, I'm a distraction!"

Irisize
Sep 30, 2014

BlitzBlast posted:

Hahaha, really? I'm just bringing Sunny? What is she even supposed to do by herself.

She's the only one you're putting effort into making better, after all.

Pureauthor
Jul 8, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST
The real problem is the rest of you guys not filling the Roster with all the 1.5 units first.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
So how does Extreme expect you to deal with overwhelming numbers? Block formation? Break through one part of it?

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
Not really sure if you mean this game by that. Anyways for Lunatic, if you're on NG+ like you should be you'll be fine.

By some miracle, #touhou wasn't actually a registered irc on SynIRC. So if you want to yell at me to translate faster or I dunno actually play some Touhou games feel free to join. warning: we might not actually play touhou games.

------


quote:

Moriya Shrine
Music: What's the Strategy?

Full Text

quote:

Okay, my turn.

Good luck!

quote:

Youkai Mountain
Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text

quote:

This is the big moment. Once we're done, how about we go to the human village and get drunk?

This next bit only plays if you had Marisa and Alice chat with Nitori in 20M.


quote:

Kappa Valley
Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text

quote:

What should I do?

What you want to do.

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN

------


quote:

Faith is From the Transient People
Music: Confusion in the Moonlight



My army this time is... interesting, shall we say.

We're finally here. Pretty nice place.

I was dubious, but now that I see it there's no more doubt about it.

Yeah, so there really is a shrine here...


I dunno posted:

This is the Moriya Shrine, a shrine from a forgotten time.

It came along with us from the outside world.

Sanae!

Greetings, Reimu.

Did you say this shrine is from outside Gensokyo?

Yes. Both the shrine and the lake were moved here.

Why in the world would you go that far?

For our sole goal, to acquire the faith of humans. Here in Gensokyo, we can regain the faith we lost in the outside world.

...I see, so that was your reason for cooperating with Youkai Mountain.

And why you want the Hakurei shrine. It's much closer to the human population.

Exactly. Now that you understand this, please cooperate and give us the shrine.

Not a chance. What kind of shrine maiden would do that?

If you want it, you'll have to show me what you can do first!

Very well then. I shall show you the power of the faith we have so diligently collected!


quote:

Victory: Defeat Sanae.
Defeat: Reimu is defeated.
Bonus: Sanae is the last enemy defeated.



Moriya Shrine is a pretty neat map. Just ahead of the entrance is a place for visitors to clean their hands and mouths (it's a traditional thing), and right across from them are two ema racks. The building on the left is a storehouse, the one on the right is an office, Sanae's standing in front of the living area, and far in the back is place where you actually worship.



Nothing fancy about the gameplay though. I split the party up into the usual groups and steamroll everything.

Music: Specter Buster



I guess it's worth noting a new enemy type? These larger fairies are pretty much turrets. Long range, slow, bulky, wide danmaku field, you get the drift.



Reimu is just gunning straight for Sanae. She, and a couple of others, took an unlucky hit, but that won't be a problem.

Even with Komachi as my healer.
why did I get Sunny instead of Dai




Reimu vs Sanae is an utter joke.

Okay, it's finally time to settle things!

The current me is filled with the power of faith. You will not defeat me!

You talk big, but let's see you back it up!

Music: Motherly Sea, One With the Wind



Both Reimu and Sanae have three levels of Shrine Maiden,





but with all her upgrades and skills Reimu is so much better it isn't even funny. But for reference, Reimu's Evasion and Accuracy stats are higher than Sanae's even without Predict's +20 boost.



Graze damage adds up though,



so Reimu unfocuses and parks next to Meiling. Until I get my formation ready, I don't want to waste any of her SP.



Oh and since it looks like I'll be dragging the LLS crew through this game, Kurumi and Elly have been mopping up the enemies on the right.



:toot:

Okay, here's the thing about Sanae.



Just like in 13R, she is standing in front of some really good terrain.



So spend a few turns to get everyone on it.



Sanae's AI focuses on Reimu, so as long as she's standing next to a Support Defender you have all the time in the world.



Reimu can take the chance for a bunch of free damage too.



By the time everybody's landed on the shrine, Sanae's first lifebar should be almost gone.



And thanks to the terrain bonuses, her three spellcards will be cake.

So a huge group of people really did come, just like the tengu said.

Well I had more free time than I expected, so I figured why not.

So you're just playing around...?!



Kurumi blew the rest of her SP on a Cheer so Elly could get the most out of Sanae's first life.

Okay, this fight's heating up!

This isn't all you can do. Don't underestimate us!

...If I must. Do you still refuse to entrust Gensokyo's faith to me?

Of course. We'll never allow the Hakurei shrine to be handed over!

Besides, if you want faith so much can't you just work with Reimu? Why do you want a monopoly?

Why? Because the future of Gensokyo's faith worries us. If Reimu keeps up her current attitude, before long faith will be lost entirely. This isn't something that can be ignored.

You're still not making any sense. Who put you in charge of what's good and bad for Gensokyo? You might be a wind priestess or whatever, but don't you think you're being a little stuck-up?

Of course not. A wind priestess is a descendant of the long dead living gods of the outside world. And just like those worshippers of gods who became worshipped themselves, a shrine maiden is capable of becoming a god. Reimu, as a shrine maiden yourself, do you possess that level of determination?

I could care less if I become a god or not.

So if you're done talking, let's hurry up and do this already!

Understood. In that case, behold the power of a living god. This is the ability to cause miracles!


quote:

Sea Opening "The Day the Sea Split"


The Day the Sea Split is basically Kappa's Pororoca with a giant blind spot. I got really lucky here and had it start with Marisa's column free.

Now that I think about it, that person's not here this time~. What was she called again, maple leaf manjuu or something?
Momiji means maple leaf.

Her name is Momi-, er, I believe you mean Ms. Inubashiri.

Right, right. Way back then, she was the one protecting you while you ran away, right?

...Back then, it was so easy for her to decide to help me. But afterwards, we never got the chance to talk...

You're ignoring me~.

Music: Fluttering Food in the Night Sky



I don't understand how this is a Ranged attack.

I guess the mountain youkai ditched you. Too bad.

...No, that too is just the way it is. Even if they don't accept us now, I'm sure that sooner or later they will come to understand us.

But is that really a good relationship? You're better off trying something else. Not fussing about the details is the secret to magic, you know.





Master Spark + Shanghai Doll is only really usable in the first half of the fight, so no reason not to spam it.

You know, it's rare to find a human willing to go directly against Reimu.

Is that so? It doesn't look that way from where I'm standing.

Point taken, but she has an odd way of attracting followers. I hope you'll see that for yourself one day.

...I have a hard time imagining that happening.
Hokuto helped translated this conversation.



Shanghai Doll's accuracy mod isn't as high though, so Alice follows up with Proto Malice instead.

So something silly happens here. See, on Marisa's route a cutscene plays after the first turn of The Day the Sea Split. But since I killed her in one turn...


Impressive. I see that ordinary methods won't work on you.



Sanae has to heal herself so the scene can play. :allears:

She's pretty tough...

I don't even need to catch my breath for attacks like that!

My objective is to have Reimu realize the power of the faith Moriya shrine holds. I will show you as much of my power of miracles as I need to in order to do that.

So she's the type to respond with overwhelming force, huh... this'll be tough.

Better brace yourselves. If we can just attack her a little more...


The world may never know posted:

Don't worry, that's why I'm here!


Watch the video!
I can not believe how well that synced up

Music: A Sworn Friend's Bond

That's...

...Nitori!?

It's good to see you're alright, Marisa!

Aren't you one of the kappa who live in the valley...? Why would you attack me?

I have to patch things up with everyone. I'm going to fight alongside Marisa and the others!

!

If you do that, won't you get punished?

Yeah, probably. They'll definitely get really angry at me later... but I've decided to be honest with myself. And now that I've come this far, I can't back down anyways!

...I see she's completely embraced Marisa's rashness.

That idiot. She didn't have to go this far...

What are your intentions? Are you saying you've turned your back on Moriya shrine?

Nah, I'm not going that far. Once this case is closed I'll give an offering. I've already entered the shrine grounds after all.

But Marisa and the others are very important friends of mine. So right now I'll fight alongside them!

Friends, you say...

...I get it. But now that you've come all this way, you'd better not change your mind later!

No need to worry! As long as I'm with everyone, I'm not afraid!

...There's nothing I can say, the mountain will decide how to deal with you.

But if you intend to stand against me, I will not hold back!



And now I have to beat her again. I actually could do it, but then I'd start the second spell with barely anyone available.



Full Armor Nitori joining in chapter 22 is your reward for convincing her with Marisa and Alice in chapter 20M. Normally Nitori doesn't join until 24.



Not that she's going to very helpful. Kappa's Pororoca lets her join in on the long range squad of death Marisa's building, but it's not nearly accurate enough to be worth a drat in this fight.



So I have her start waddling over and end turn.



Elly grabs the kill again,



and finally gets Grit.

That's just what I expected from Reimu's group. However, this is as far as you'll go against the power of miracles.

She throws around her power like it grows on trees. She must possess an incredible amount of faith!

But in comparison, the shrine is nowhere near as bustling as it should be. Why do you insist on shutting out worshippers?

Lady Yasaka once said that faith is for the sake of the people. So in order to gather faith from them, it is essential that the shrine grounds remain sacred. Youkai cannot be allowed into it.

But isn't that lonely?

! What makes you say that...?

The kappa said it too. You're always by yourself.

If you were to allow youkai, you would distance humans and doom your shrine's god. That's your theory, correct? But in practice, it looks like it's been quite the lonesome experience.

...I will accept that if it's for the sake of gathering faith.

Well I'd never listen to a rule as stiff as that. Sure it's a hassle when youkai gather, but it's not all that bad.

So it's just a hassle to you...?! Very well then. Just like the last time you invaded, I'll show you the difference in faith between us once more!


who is this strange person posted:

Unfortunately, there are no reinforcements heading your way.
Patchouli and Koakuma spawn in.

...?!

Sakuya, is that-

Patchouli and Koakuma?! Didn't you pass on coming to the mountain?

I changed my mind. I wanted to know more about the mountain's affairs.

We were planning on turning back if entering was too hard... but we got lucky, and getting here was easy.

Wh-why? What in the world happened to the guards?

They were there, but they let me through when I said I had business at the shrine.

I should have known the tengu from earlier would have spread the word.

...This can't be. The tengu, we...

It would seem they've left you on your own.

Sorry, but I don't understand the situation that well. All I know is that the journey here was pleasant.

...

I understand. I'm not afraid to stand alone.

No need to bluff. It's okay to admit you've lost!

I have not! Lady Yasaka is with me. As long as I have her divine protection, I can accomplish anything! Even by myself! Come forth, Takeminakata!


quote:

Preparation "Summon Takeminakata"


The animation for Summon Takeminakata shush, wikipedia doesn't have an english entry traces a star around Sanae, then fills it with a circle.



It has a strange effect; Sanae auto-casts Focus, but any character standing on one of the lighter blue tiles gets a +20% boost to their hit rate. It's supposed to just be for enemies, but I think it bugged since I don't think I've ever seen anything as dramatic as a full -30% to hit rate. Meh.



Of course that doesn't do anything about Sanae's own accuracy boost,



so Sunny pops Reflection. This... probably won't do a thing, since it doesn't stop the enemy from countering. And on the enemy phase Sanae focuses on Reimu anyway.

look sunny had to do something


Now that I've come here, I wonder what kind of prank I should do...

...A prank? And just what are you planning?

Agh, no, no! I was just talking to myself! I wasn't going to do anything like throw around leaves or mess up all of the emas!

...I'll have to keep an eye on you.

Music: Proof of the Wind's Bond

I didn't want to use "bond" twice, but I couldn't think of a snappier way to express "a symbol that I am together with the wind".



Obviously Sunny can't hit a drat thing,



but Marisa can. Go go Support Attack!



I was hoping Komachi could snipe Sanae, but I forgot that The Day the Sea Split has a long reach.

Now that we've made it to the shrine at the mountain top, that's another safe ferriage to my name.

A ferriage...? Excuse me, I believe this is the first time we've met. You don't seem like an associate of Reimu's either...

I'm just lending a hand because of Sakuya over there. Well, I'm half here to help and half just relaxing. You should lighten up more too.



ow

Lady Kochiya...!

...Now that I think about it, you were with Reimu and the others last summer too.

I, I'm not fighting the Moriya shrine because I think you're bad. But Marisa is an important friend of mine, so-

Friends, friends, friends! How many times are you going to say that!?

:stare:



Oh wow, wasn't expecting to land a 39%.



This is the part where I normally have Marisa fall back on Proto Malice's higher accuracy, but thanks to all her accuracy buffs she had good enough odds to keep on Sparking.

EDIT: Actually, looking at Sanae's health in the following pictures I think I did switch to Proto Malice after all.




It's kind of hilarious how much build-up Summon Takeminakata gets for what is essentially a couple of smacks.



Marisa's still got enough SP for Alert, so she can attack without fear.



Whoops, totally forgot Rumia had Darkness.





Also I'm glad I had Rumia chug her bottle of Ginju Sake because otherwise she would have died here.



Once again I'm more than capable of finishing this spell now, but then I wouldn't be prepared for the next one. I won't get a reward for beating every spell in one turn, so why rush?

Instead I just end turn and kill Sanae on the counter.


You still refuse to accept what I told you last time. Gods vanish once they lose faith. And yet even so, you-

If something like that happens, I'll just handle it my own way. Being as stiff about gods as you sounds like it'd be a pain anyways.

How could you say something like that...!?



Oh yeah, Sanae has a barrier now. It just reduces damage a bit like Reimu's Duplex Barrier.



Reimu gets Shrine Maiden 4 just a bit too early. I was hoping to hit 23 right after Reimu proved she was the strongest shrine maiden. :negative:

Impossible, how could you have pushed me so far...

Alright, we're crushing her!

You did well fighting by yourself. But against this many people, it's hopeless.

In deference to your tenacity, we'll let you be if you give up now.

...Lady Kochiya, I'm not angry with the Moriya shrine like the others. But at this rate, you'll be separated from both gods and humans. Don't you think that's lonely?

...Loneliness. Words like that no longer matter to me. We... Lady Yasaka, she chose to become a fantasy instead of obsessing on her bygone glory days.

It was all for the sake of regaining faith. My fears, my anxieties, I left them all behind in the outside world!



Sanae casts Miracle, which is Strike, Alert, Valor, Guard, Guts, Drive, Accel, Gain, and Luck all in one package. This instance is a special boss version that changes depending on the difficulty, though. Easy leaves out Guard, and Lunatic tosses Valor and Guts for Vigor and I think Snipe.

Give me a break, she can still keep going? Pretty impressive willpower.

Fine then, let's decide things once and for all!

Blow, winds of the sacred mountain. Bring guidance and faith to these transient people!


quote:

Miracle "God's Wind"


The danmaku field of God's Wind forms in a spiral, like a cyclone. I should probably start making animations of these fields, they're getting more intricate.

Anyways it drops the range of all attacks by 1 (with the exception of 1 range attacks of course), and is probably infamous as a total screw you because




it's a five range MAP with a S rank in the air. And Sanae just cast Miracle.

If you rushed recklessly through the fight, Sanae will probably nuke your entire party! Avoiding surprises like this is why you should always make sure to start a spell with at least half your team available.




First things first, let's get rid of that Alert.

So you're the living god who's been causing so much trouble. I had a pleasant mountain climbing experience because of you. Thanks.

...Is that what the tengu said? So they really do think poorly of us...

Well, they didn't exactly say that, but if you only just realized that then this is your just desserts.

...



I almost never use Patchouli, so barring some voting shenanigans this may be the only time you see her cut-in.



Patchy's default PS, Rapid Casting, is what SRW fans know as Hit and Away. If you have her attack before moving, she can move after the attack. It's really useful for long ranged characters, but it's sadly locked to Patchy in this game.



Koakuma has a really cheap Devote and the ability to Renew the MP/ammo of a nearby character at the cost of 10 Power. With her around MP issues are nonexistent.



Kurumi guzzles down Sakuya's Tea in order to get enough SP to use Accel. Then she drops my first bomb.



Rumia uses the other. This frees the bulk of my army from the spellcard Range penalty.



Then Sunny wastes Sanae's Valor. Now I'm in position to end this.



Marisa is 3 for 3 with her sparks.

Looks like the Hakurei shrine maiden's fight is finally coming to an end.

You don't sound very interested in it. For what purpose did you come here?

If you really want to know, I guess you could say I'm a bodyguard... or something like that. Anyways, you should be worried. Now that I've stuck my head into this, I'm not going to play nice.



Mokou didn't get enough Power to use Flying Phoenix. :negative:



She didn't even have the grace to die so I could show Summon Takeminakata's dynamic kill.

Now that I take a closer look, you're still just a child.

A... maid?

According to the kappa, you're the only human on this mountain. Being alone amongst so many youkai... don't you think that's dreadful?

...It's harsh, but it isn't painful. That's the same reason we came to Gensokyo.

...I see. Well, you won't be worrying about it for much longer.



Within me is the power of a wind god. I can not lose!

If that's the case, I won't lose either! Thanks to my job, I'm struck by the wind every morning and every night!

That's kind of pitiful...



And to wrap things up,



Reimu finally dips into her SP and casts Sense and Luck.

Music: Sealing Charm, Blessed Light


Reimu posted:

Heh, you were a decent fight.



Cha-ching. I could have gotten more if I used Evil-sealing Circle instead, but who am I to pass on a flashy kill?



Sanae drops Kanako's Blessing (literally Sky God's Blessing but come on). It gives the holder a S rank in Air and zeroes the MP cost of Focusing.

...!

And that makes two wins. Game, set, match!

...You're strong. If you're this powerful, why can't you gather any faith for the Hakurei shrine?

That's what I'd like to know.

Anyway, we won, so cut it out with all the "take over the shrine" talk.

Now it's time to confront the Moriya shrine's god. I hope this goes smoothly...

...All I wanted was to help Lady Yasaka recover faith. Then she could bring happiness to the humans of this land...

Your heart was in the right place, but your methods not so much.

I don't particularly feel like telling you how you should do your job. But don't even joke about lending me your power. I can get worshippers back on my own.

...I understand. If you want to meet with Lady Yasaka, follow this road. It will take you to Suwa Lake. Lady Yasaka awaits you where the onbanshira stand.

Gotcha. Reimu, let's go!

Yeah!



-----

Elly, there's one more thing I need to be a magical girl.

Really?

Yeah, a transformation chant.

...I guess so, yeah. How about "Ruhkondakarongaronkakoonkakoonka"?
The original line is a spew of katakana I sounded it out in english.

Ruh, ruhkondaruhkonga...?

If that doesn't work, maybe "Goorangarangoorainrakondakaronraga"?

Goo, gooranragongaga...Elly, are you just making fun of me?

Of, of course not!

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 15:45 on May 30, 2015

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn

quote:

Moriya Shrine
Music: What's the Strategy?

Full Text

quote:

So basically she did all of that to keep her god alive.

Well sheesh, if she told me that I would have been fine with a branch shrine.

------



I guess I should start waiting for my team to be decided before I upgrade.

------


Nitori Kawashiro
Personality: Strong-willed (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Character Skills: Extending Arm (Unit can use items on nearby units)
Personal Skills: Extending Arm+ (Unit can use items after moving), Candid Friend (reduce SP cost of Faith to 40), Supporter (increase hit rate by 20% during a Support Attack), Optical Camouflage (25% chance of avoiding any attack), Big Backpack (adds one additional item slot)
Spirits: Scan, Guard, Focus, Faith (19), Snipe (27)

Despite a couple buffs, Nitori is practically the same as she was in the first game. And there, being a mediocre at best tank was alright because you only had nine characters and Keine couldn't cover everyone. Fast forward to FMW2, though, and Nitori falls flat on her face. Meiling is a better wall in literally every way, and even Elly pulls off the "tank with mediocre defensive stats" better thanks to Grit. Full Armor Nitori isn't that much of an improvement either because buffing her Armor doesn't do anything about her Defense stat. Her gimmicks that are supposed to make up for this are that she can downsize to regular, cost 2.0 Nitori, Extending Arm, and that she has friendships with the entire MoF crew (and Marisa). But regular Nitori is outright awful, Extending Arm is nifty but not as effective as just having a dedicated healer, and a +5% to Hit/Evade really isn't that much. Pretty much her sole redeeming quality is that unlike the rest of the tanks she doesn't have a one-range finisher. This makes it much easier to set up a safe boss killing formation because you don't have to stretch lines so that Marisa is just barely in range for Master Spark. Marisa/Alice/Patchouli/FA Nitori is one of the strongest formations in the game, actually. Too bad half of them are rear end at moving and the other half is already the best pair in the game. Nitori would be a lot better if more of her personal skills were just things she could inherently do, but alas.
Okay her other redeeming quality is that she is just a giant ZZ Gundam reference. I used her on my first run solely because of that.

All Attacks
FMW E battle theme: Water-to-Air Super Youkai Warhead Nitori (Candid Friend)
Boss theme: From the Bottom of the Valley and the River (Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's Kappa, From the Incompatible Land of Lakes and Marshes)
FMW P battle theme: A Sworn Friend's Bond (Candid Friend)


Patchouli Knowledge
Personality: Calm (Hit: +2, Kill: +3, Evade: +2, Graze: +1)
Characters Skills: Magician, Magic Barrier [Patchy] (All attacks underneath a certain damage threshold are nullified)
Personal Skills: Hit and AwayRapid Casting (if unit attacks before moving, they can move after the attack), Enchantment [Fire Sign] (Agni Shine can be used after moving), Unmoving Library (Range +1 and 80% MP consumption for a turn if on the previous turn unit did not move), Enhanced Barrier [Patchy] (upgrades Magic Barrier [Patchy])
Spirits: Focus, Snipe, Strike, Guard (24)

Patchouli is basically Nitori Sniper Custom. Her weapon ranges are long as is, and with Snipe they're straight up ridiculous. She can even serve as a tank of sorts thanks to her barrier, though you'll probably have to cast Guard and defend to really get use out of it. Being the only character in the game with Hit and Away automatically makes her better than the other long ranged characters... but she's the only one. It's in-character, but when the rest of the army is staffed with mobile, post-movement attackers even using Patchy is a little difficult. She's handy against bosses I suppose?
Patchy's finisher should be Philosopher's Stone, but the three fairies were assholes and stole the necessary gems back in FMW1. They haven't given them back yet even as of FMW3.

All Attacks
Battle theme: Magician of Aprisyra Metrosil (Locked Girl)


Koakuma
Personality: Strong-willed (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Character Skills: Renew (Restore MP of an adjacent unit at the cost of 10 Power)
Personal Skills: Koa Booster (Renew can be used after moving), Devil's Contract (A selected unit regenerates 10% MP and loses 5 Power every turn, limited uses),
Spirits: Devote, Gain, Focus, Alert (24), Rouse (35)

Koakuma refills your MP. I can never remember the exact name of the command, but who cares. She's awesome, and with her around you can spam finishers all day long.
Koa Booster and FMW3's Koa Fighter are Gundam references. :ssh:

All Attacks
Battle theme: With an Eternally Innocent Heart ("Voile, the Magic Library")


Sanae Kochiya
All Attacks

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Jan 11, 2015

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn


Reimu doesn't give a poo poo about this friendship bullshit, it's solo run time.



After some readjustment at least. I've scrounged up enough WP to cap Reimu just in time.



I debated slapping on armor boosting items for safety, but I decided it would probably be smarter to buff her accuracy instead.



Lastly, skills. As the only person on the field, Reimu won't have to worry about building Power. Ammo is a legitimate concern though, so of course she wants Ammo Save. Nine levels of SP Up would also be helpful, but sadly there's no space.



There aren't any youkai enemies in chapter 22, so Youkai Buster is pointless. Duplex Barrier can actually come in handy, but since I already buffed Reimu's accuracy I may as well risk Intuition. Best defense is a good offense and all that.



Since Reimu is forced, I need to select at least one other character to start. So here's Cirno for moral support.



Priority one is to get to the office. As high as Reimu's evasion might be, even she can't totally nullify graze damage without casting Focus. And I need to save SP for Sanae.



If I don't rush straight to Sanae I get a one turn grace period, but from turn two onwards all of the fairies start rushing me. A lot of them are landed now too, so occasionally they'll get terrain boosts.



The green fairies are jerks, because their physical attacks have a one third chance of hitting. And even if they don't, the graze damage really stings. Better to evade than to counter.

I tried pushing my luck anyways and got hit by two 23%'s in a row, forcing a restart. :argh:



After that crock of bullshit, I swapped strategies. Out with Predict and Intuition, in with Instinct Dodge 9 and Duplex Barrier.



Cirno was clearly an awful choice, so in comes Dai.



So here's the new strategy: CHARGE!



Danmaku penalties will make this first turn extremely painful,



but Defend + Duplex Barrier should keep Reimu alive. Instinct Dodge will kick in, and then I can have Reimu can kick all the rear end.

Yellow fairies are harmless, so priority goes to green and large fairies.



Unfortunately they're all spamming Evade (and dodging 75%'s), so killing things on player phase is like slamming my head against the RNG.



And the yellow fairies know they're harmless, so they're just swarming Reimu and trying to weaken her with their danmaku instead of attacking.



how have i missed four 75%s in a row



It took 20 turns to clean up the fairies.



Sanae has a non-zero hit rate. That'll make getting on top of the shrine tough, so it'd better to regenerate all of Reimu's HP first.

Please pretend I spent ten turns on the office instead of just having Dai cast Trust twice.



Sanae spams Focus, which is the main reason why I didn't want to waste SP.



Her damage isn't too hot yet though, so Duplex Barrier can carry me through.



By the way, this time Sanae is actually on the shrine.



She's not standing on the shrine though, so only Reimu gets that defense bonus.

Lunatic Sanae also has adjusted AI; instead of gunning for Reimu, she'll target whoever is the weakest like a regular boss. This actually makes Patchouli's dramatic entrance a little problematic since she's by far the frailest character on the field.



After waiting a few turns for her to deplete her SP, Reimu finally starts her counter attack. I drop a save here as a checkpoint because screw going through those 27 turns again.



First things first, I need to win this coin flip to strip off Sanae's Alert.



...Eh, that works too.



Let the coin flips begin.

After five deaths, I decide this plan isn't working. The other thing I can do is take advantage of Sanae's zeroed out SP to slowly heal.



Let's pretend I did that. Healing cripples my accuracy (which is why I wanted to use Predict at first), but Instinct Dodge got me through the enemies so I can't complain.



Take two.



Occasionally Sanae will only have enough SP for an Alert, which is basically a free turn.



It takes far too long, but Sanae goes down to critical. Now Reimu just has to cast Sense and snipe Sanae from as far away as possible.



Since Sanae didn't get to counter, Reimu still has her Alert.

There's different dialogue here if you either didn't or couldn't recruit Nitori.

quote:

What a flashy attack...

So she's the type to respond with overwhelming force, huh... this'll be tough.

If you understand the power of Moriya shrine's faith, then you have no reason to fight. Will you continue to fight for the Hakurei shrine?

Duh! Reimu's our friend after all!

Your friend...?

Y... yeah! She's the Hakurei shrine maiden who protects everyone!

Even though all she does is eat and exterminate~.

Good for you, Reimu. You're popular with children.

Quit it with the flattery already.

...I see. So all of you stand with her. If you're my enemy, I will not go easy on you!
Similarly, the conversation for God's Wind and the postlogue changes. But it's basically the same thing, only more boring, so who cares.



The goal now is to time out everything.



Once she hits her second spell, Sanae will start moving. She'll almost always beeline for Patchy and Koakuma.



As always, the third spell starts with Sanae casting Miracle. Reimu's Alert will pull her through this,



but on Lunatic Sanae casts Miracle at the start of each turn. This makes it impossible to survive the final spell, outrun her long enough to deplete all her MP, or even complete a solo run for that matter because Alert is in the way.

And note you can't time God's Wind out.

Oh well. I'll go back and have some tea.


I have won. Now hand over the Hakurei shrine!

How could this happen...?!


It says Game Over

A solo run is actually possible on Normal/Hard (and you don't even have to time everything out), but on Lunatic? Not happening. Even if you save scum everything up until the final spell, Miracle spam will bring you under.

So what was the point of all that? Well for one thing I wanted to show off what a solo run of the game looks like (FYI it's pretty boring), but fact is that 22 Lunatic isn't very different from 22 Normal. Enemies evade and Sanae casts Focus a bunch so the RNG is more frustrating, but unlike Aya I don't have to waste all of my SP on a midboss. It evens out to the exact same thing, only without Nitori popping up because I guess Marisa is just an rear end in a top hat on Reimu's route.
I may have also wanted an excuse to post a picture of Reimu flipping people off.

From here on out, I'll be skipping over any Lunatic chapters that are pretty much the same as Normal. I'll note any differences at the bottom of each update.

Extra Dialogue posted:

This living god person... she doesn't feel like a bad person. But she wants to take over the Hakurei shrine, so does that mean she is a bad person...?

? Did you say something?

I-It's nothing!


To be honest, I was hoping you'd have thought this over.

Thought over what?

The Hakurei Shrine's value. In all of Gensokyo, it's the only place where humans and youkai can freely coexist.

But it's because it's like that that I went to inquire about it. Shouldn't the shrine grounds be devoted to the worship of the god?

...I suppose that's the common sense of the outside world.



Here's the one difference in the strategy: to prevent Sanae from running off and attacking Patchy, I need to pen her in. Sanae standing on the shrine actually works out for me because that lets Meiling and Keine get in range for their finishers. Also Marisa isn't parked next to Alice because Master Spark doesn't have good enough odds without their friendship. So instead Marisa is just triggering Elly's Support Attacks.



Now with all of that said, on the actual run I completely hosed up and blew all of my SP on Summon Takeminakata. This turned the entire last spell into me trying the odds, and if it weren't for Mokou pulling off a clutch Flying Phoenix I probably would have had to restart.



:toot:



I had Alice spawn some dolls in since I didn't have any spare fairies. The one in charge of clearing out Sanae's Alert got overkilled for like 11k.

------

The game has been paused. Please take a break.

...Kanako Yasaka, the god of the Moriya shrine, has an intimidating presence far beyond that of the gods we've encountered so far. But for the sake of the Hakurei shrine's peace, she must be defeated.

Please don't give up, everyone!

Now then, please have fun playing Chapter 22 of Fantasy Maiden Wars P: "Ah, Gods and Mortals on the Grounds of the Divine Lake"!
The exact kanji used for "Gods" is specifically "Gods of heaven and earth", but that's way too long.

-----

Available cost: 25.0

Available units:
2.5
Marisa
Alice
Sakuya
Meiling
Keine
Mokou
Komachi
Patchouli
FA Nitori
(Reimu is force deployed)

2.0
Cirno
Elly
Kurumi
Nitori
Koakuma

1.5
Rumia
Daiyousei
Sunny
Luna
Star

Marisa and Alice are in, so you've got 20.0 to work with. And this should be obvious, but you can only have one Nitori.

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 22:38 on May 3, 2015

The_Final_Stand
Nov 2, 2013

So cute and cuddly
Voting Patchouli, for 17.5 remaining.

All the magicians.

Ryza
Mar 15, 2012

Disco Thunder
Kurumi, leaving 15.5.

legoman727
Mar 13, 2010

by exmarx
Sakuya for 13.0 left because someone has to make the tea after the big fight.

Ardeem
Sep 16, 2010

There is no problem that cannot be solved through sufficient application of lasers and friendship.
Cirno is in. 11.0 remaining. Only the stongerest will survive.

fool of sound
Oct 10, 2012
Rumia, leaving 9.5

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013

Komachi, making it 7.0

Also, once Sanae becomes a party member can you make her boss theme her player theme instead of her usual one? It's much better.

SyntheticPolygon fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jan 11, 2015

Nages
Dec 31, 2011

Just yell at her like you always do. Bitch, get out of the way!
Sunny, 5.5

GodofDiscord
Sep 5, 2013

Not the strongest, but the cutest.
Meiling will defend us all from harm, which leaves the remaining cost to 3.0.

Pureauthor
Jul 8, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST
Luna for 1.5 left.

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
what the hell is this team

MatteusTheCorrupt
Nov 1, 2010
Let's grab Star to finish things off.

Pureauthor
Jul 8, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST
Edit: Forgot she was force-deployed. Dang.

Ardeem
Sep 16, 2010

There is no problem that cannot be solved through sufficient application of lasers and friendship.

BlitzBlast posted:

what the hell is this team

Fairies vs Gods! FIGHT.

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
Oh my god I only have one support defender whyyyyyyyy

But yeah, this should be... interesting.

MatteusTheCorrupt
Nov 1, 2010
I thought about giving you Dai insdead of Star, but decided that having all three fairies of light was far more important than "healing".

Eeepies
May 29, 2013

Bocchi-chan's... dead.
We'll have to find a new guitarist.

MatteusTheCorrupt posted:

I thought about giving you Dai insdead of Star, but decided that having all three fairies of light was far more important than "healing".

Agreed. One for all, and all for one!

Blaze Dragon
Aug 28, 2013
LOWTAX'S SPINE FUND

BlitzBlast posted:



The animation for Summon Takeminakata shush, wikipedia doesn't have an english entry traces a star around Sanae, then fills it with a circle.

You sure? It looks like a sprite from Space Invaders to me.

Is there any difference between normal and FA Nitori, sprite-wise? She doesn't look Full Armour to me (well she is really green like the original FA Gundam, but...she's really green normally, too...). Does the FA do anything other than increasing her Armour and deploy cost, for that matter?

The Patchouli and Koakuma all attacks videos don't have subtitles. I don't know if they just weren't worth the effort or you missed them (I'm guessing Koakuma was definitely not worth the effort, even her animations are generic, I guess as expected of a nameless midboss)

Ryza
Mar 15, 2012

Disco Thunder

Blaze Dragon posted:

You sure? It looks like a sprite from Space Invaders to me.

Is there any difference between normal and FA Nitori, sprite-wise? She doesn't look Full Armour to me (well she is really green like the original FA Gundam, but...she's really green normally, too...). Does the FA do anything other than increasing her Armour and deploy cost, for that matter?

The Patchouli and Koakuma all attacks videos don't have subtitles. I don't know if they just weren't worth the effort or you missed them (I'm guessing Koakuma was definitely not worth the effort, even her animations are generic, I guess as expected of a nameless midboss)

FA Nitori drops her move by 1 and lets her use Hyper Cucumber and Kappa's Pororoca. Besides the armor boost I think it also increases her HP by 1000.

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn

Blaze Dragon posted:

You sure? It looks like a sprite from Space Invaders to me.

Well that's why I should start making animations for these.

quote:

Is there any difference between normal and FA Nitori, sprite-wise?

Nope. There's basically zero reason to use regular Nitori anyways.

quote:

The Patchouli and Koakuma all attacks videos don't have subtitles. I don't know if they just weren't worth the effort or you missed them (I'm guessing Koakuma was definitely not worth the effort, even her animations are generic, I guess as expected of a nameless midboss)

Only new characters (or at least bosses) get subbed attack videos. Most of the returning crew just use their FMW1 lines.

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

BlitzBlast posted:

Only new characters (or at least bosses) get subbed attack videos. Most of the returning crew just use their FMW1 lines.

The animation quality also noticeably improves between games, and the older characters start to seem relatively bad since they reuse their animations. Like, Youmu and Keine both have attacks where they jump into the air, but they don't have any "jumping" frames so it looks like they just slide off the top of the screen in a standing pose. I cannot unsee this. I don't think anyone has this problem in FMW2, and by FMW3 new characters with new jumping attacks get their own fancy jumping animations. But Youmu and Keine still slide off the top.

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013

BlitzBlast posted:

what the hell is this team

You should be thankful that we are making you use at least one of the Three Fairies each map, as they are cool. :colbert:

Also,

BlitzBlast posted:

This is the big moment. Once we're done, how about we go to the human village and get drunk?
I am glad Sanbondo understands that Komachi is the coolest character. :allears:

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
I didn't think goon teams would be that much of a handicap but I suppose now that you've got enough available variety they really are.

Pureauthor
Jul 8, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST
Fairies of Light are awesome and I will brook no disagreement.

Shei-kun
Dec 2, 2011

Screw you, physics!
Man, I missed voting in Daiyousei for the full fairy experience.

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
You know, when I was starting this update I was planning on actually going back to the two week schedule. The fact that it's March now says about all you need to know on how that went!

Seriously though, sorry this took so long.

------



Alright, so my team is... not ideal, but this chapter is actually easy enough it doesn't matter. I'll still need to distribute some upgrades though.

I debated buffing Cirno or one of the Three Fairies, but decided I'd get more bang for my buck upgrading Reimu's damage.



Also, skills. Alice picked up Predict a bit too late to help with Sanae, but at least she has it. Patchy got Support Attack, because everyone wants Support Attack.



Now in all honesty, Marisa would benefit from Kanako's Blessing more than Reimu. But Reimu pried this off of Sanae's corpse and drat it she's going to keep it. :black101:



As a final note before I start the chapter proper, now that I have Nitori I can access the main menu's Frame Switch option. Much like the Huckebein Boxer in OG2, FA Nitori is the only character who will use this. And also like the Huckebein Boxer, there is absolutely no reason to use regular Nitori.
Okay there's probably reasons to use the regular versions but I don't care.


quote:

Youkai Mountain
Music: Bizarre Smile

Full Text

quote:

Hopefully this all works out!

------


quote:

Ah, Gods and Mortals on the Grounds of the Divine Lake
Music: Wind Interlude



What a team.

Wh-what are those creepy giant things...?

They're quite the spectacle. These must be the onbanshira Sanae mentioned.

...Which means this is probably the place.

Yeah, come on out already!


??? posted:

Who is it that calls for me?



Most of these animations are from my Lunatic runs, so things might look a little off.

...You must be the boss of this incident.

Indeed. I am Kanako Yasaka, the god of this shrine, and, after countless trials, the new god of this mountain.



Kanako casts Spirit, and does in fact start the battle with 10 extra Power.

Judging by this pressure... there's no doubt she's our foe.

Yeah, she's different from the jokes of gods we've faced so far.

...You're the one who said she wanted to take over my shrine, right? That'd be bad for me, so could you please stop?

Hmm. So you're the shrine maiden from the foot of the mountain, Reimu Hakurei... which means you must be her followers.

Nah, we just came to help tell you off.

You plan to steal the Hakurei shrine and monopolize Gensokyo's faith. There's no way we can let that happen!

...Hoho, so you're here to protect the shrine. Sanae was right after all.

Shrine maiden from the foot of the mountain, you associate with youkai, scaring human worshippers away from your shrine... And now you command them! How blasphemous!

Wait, are we actually going to get divinely punished?!

Don't be scared, we should be strong enough to fight her!

...Whether or not the shrine at the foot of the mountain becomes the Moriya shrine's property is a matter for a god to decide.

You who would oppose a god's will. You are free to prostrate yourselves against Yasaka's divine might!

Oddly enough the writer didn't use much of Kanako's actual stage 6 dialogue for this.


quote:

Victory: Defeat Kanako.
Defeat: All allies are defeated.
Bonus: Capture at least three spell cards.

Music: Headwind's Advance

Music: The Sound of a War God's Footsteps

Instead of a medley, chapter 23 gets two arranges of MoF Stage 6, one for each phase. You can probably guess which is which.

Both songs also override most player themes; I think even Blessed Light and The Moment Dreams Reach the Stars fall prey to this unless you adjust the BGM priority.




There's nothing special about the grunts, so cut to the boss.



Though I would like to note that Marisa decided dodge rates are just for show and got hit by drat near everything. Even a 10%!



I fed most of the enemies to the fairies, so by the time I hit Kanako they were at fairly acceptable levels. One of the nice things about SRW games is that it's really easy to catch up underleveled characters.



If I were feeling cheeky I'd surround Kanako like normal, but I already know what's going to happen here and don't feel like playing dumb.

A god like you who can't read the mood ought to be scolded. If you were on better terms with the mountain, Nitori and the tengu would have lent you guys a hand.

So Gensokyo even has strange humans who care about youkai.

You're the weird ones. I guess I'll just have to teach you how we do things around here.

Music: The Restless Spirit and the Virtuous Wind



Before you even ask, no she doesn't ape the Guncannon. I was disappointed too.



Unlike Remilia and Flandre, Kanako is supposed to be a tank. She's even got a barrier that decreases solid damage by 500. This is Normal difficulty though, so she's a complete chump.



She's primarily a long-ranged unit, so theoretically I'd want to attack her from up close.





But who am I to pass up a beam war?

Okay, not having Koa around means spamming finishers this early is kind of dumb.


If you monopolize Gensokyo's faith, your own powers will likely be altered.

There are no better methods to preserve the future of faith. I am willing to do anything for the sake of our goal.

...Gods certainly aren't what I thought they'd be if they're willing to use such forceful methods. Someone that loves all life equally... that's the kind of god I'd believe in.



So I have Alice stick to Proto Malice.

Your overflowing self-confidence and ambition reminds me of Remi.

Oh? That person must have a bright future ahead of them then.

Though if you two were to meet, you'd probably fight... allow me to test if your power compares to Remi's.



Kanako can attack from even farther than Patchy, but not yet. So may as well take advantage of her superior range while I still can!

...I expected you'd all be about this lively. Humans, youkai, fairies, and devils. You faithless beings have caused quite a bit of chaos.

Heh, thanks for the compliment!

In any case, this is what happens when you worry about faith too much.

Is faith really so important that you'd steal other people's shrines...?

Steal? I'm rescuing it. A shrine that has lost its faith is nothing more than a shed. I intend to gather humans there and revive that shrine.

I think it'd be great if more people came to my shrine! But I'm going to do that on my own. I don't need your help!

Silence. Shrines don't exist for the benefit of their shrine maidens. A shrine exists to be a sanctuary, to be the home of the gods. If you don't even understand that... then it'd be best for you to experience the raging soul of a god until you reconsider the meaning of a shrine!

The writer combined Kanako's pre-fight one liners from both Reimu and Marisa's stories. It's... not as snappy in english.


quote:

Divine Festival "Expanded Onbashira"




Expanded Onbanshira buffs Kanako's damage by 20%.

Woooaaaah, you look cool! But isn't that heavy?

It is, yes. They represent the duties that as a god I must bear.

Huh, I don't really get it but I don't think I could do that.

The idea of a mere fairy using objects as sacred as these is so ridiculous it isn't even funny.





Not that it matters with Grit. And yes, she literally just throws the things. :allears:

You have quite the intimidating presence. It's a somewhat dignified feeling.

Oh? In that case, why don't you surrender to us?

I'd rather not. You're a little too dignified. You'd have to be darker, and send a shiver down my spine if you want me to work for you.

So you've been enthralled into becoming a devil's plaything. Allow me to return you to your true character.



Sakuya actually isn't very good for this chapter since Kanako's accuracy is high enough that casting Focus won't guarantee dodges. Private Square helps, at least.

Also here's Kanako's barrier.




The damage buff actually hurts on enemy phase, where your units probably don't have Alert or Grit up to avoid damage. I was hoping Marisa would get "hit" again so Rumia could tank the laser with her barrier, but no dice.



Once I get Kanako down to critical, I start moving all my units to the right.



Then Marisa kills her on enemy phase.

Hmph, there's much more to come. I haven't even begun to tap into my divine power yet.

...She's skilled. Worthy of reporting to the mistress.

But with the tengu gone, now is our best chance. We have to keep pushing on!

Fools. Even without the help of the denizens of this mountain, something as simple as cursing you lot isn't difficult at all.

On that note, it seems the hearts of the youkai lie separate from Moriya shrine. Isn't that proof enough of the problems with your methods?

If they don't understand our motives, then we will simply have to teach them one by one. But first I must deal with your group. I shall discipline you with my absolute power and take your faith.

...Just like I expected, we're not going to be able to talk this out.

Then this'll be easy. There's only one opponent, let's just keep this up an-

Hold on a second! Let me join in too~!

Music: A God Plays with Their Whole Heart and Soul
The song name is a pun; instead of "全心全霊" (zenshinzenrei), it has "全神全礼" (also zenshinzenrei, but it uses the characters for god and ceremony)


Suwako posted:

Ugh, you're such a miser, Kanako! Look at you, playing with the humans by yourself.

Suwako?! Why did you come out?!

Er, what? A... kid?

Huh, where have I seen that weird hat?

Suwako, what are you doing? The plan was that I would be the one to settle things.

I won't take too long. We finally have visitors, don't just send them away like that!

Hey, who's that kid? It looks like she knows that god...

...She's the god who came out when I fought with Sanae last summer.

Now that I think about it, I haven't introduced myself yet. It's nice to meet all of you, I'm Suwako Moriya. I'm Moriya shrine's other god.

Another god...?

Yup, we've got two. There's me, Suwako, and her, Kanako. Together we're the two pillars of Moriya shrine!

Nitori, did you know about this?

Well I've heard rumors, but this is my first time seeing her too. Wow, who would have thought that girl I saw back at the Hakurei shrine would be a god...

Anyway, Kanako, let me switch with you. I could hold back before, but there's no way I'm doing that this time.

...I suppose I have no choice. But you'll have to let me switch back.

Kanako withdraws.

Hold on a second, why are you just coming and going as you please?

Oh don't worry about it, just do your best to drive me out. More importantly, now that that stick-in-the-mud Kanako is out of the way, we can continue the festival!

What festival?

Don't tell me you don't know! A festival is just another name for the playtime of the gods. After all, it's when gods have fun with humans!

So what you're saying is that now that you're here...

Yep! You're playing with a god, so it's a festival. And this time it's my turn to have a danmaku festival! If you get that, then follow my lead and play as hard as you can!


quote:

Victory: Defeat Suwako.
Defeat: All allies are defeated.
Bonus: Capture at least three spell cards.

So yeah, now we're fighting Suwako!

I remember you, Reimu. Last summer you beat Sanae black and blue while she was weak.

Oh yeah, that happened. I beat her black and blue again when she was strong too though.

Good, good. If you couldn't do that you'd be boring. You're a shrine maiden, so act like one. Amuse me, a god!



She has some weird attacks.



Fittingly enough, she's the exact opposite of Kanako: dodgy and frail. She also has a barrier, but instead of solid attacks it lowers laser damage.

She's not a complete joke on Normal just because dodge tanks are more annoying to deal with, but she's still much easier than her Hard/Lunatic incarnations.




Normally I'd need a few turns to move my army over to her, but as is I can hit her now. Though the short breather would have been appreciated if I had Dai or Koa.



Alice hits 20 on the way over and learns Danmaku Brains. This oddly named skill (it's a contraction of "Danmaku is all about brains") is the counterpart to Marisa's Danmaku Power, and it buffs Alice's critical damage. It's her best PS by a country mile and shoots her back up to best Support Attacker in the game.



Suwako moves, so priority one is to pin her in. The fact that this helps deal with her first spell is a total coincidence.

If you haven't noticed yet, this is a chapter where prior knowledge dramatically changes your experience.




Komachi uses her final Trust on Meiling. From here on out I'm flying without a safety.

I definitely wouldn't have pegged you as a god with a hat like that.

Please don't hat shame.

You won't be able to recognize my true strength with just your eyes alone. Maybe you'll understand the meaning of a god if you play a game with me?

Sure, I've got time for a round. You'd better put your heart into it!



Marisa missed a 88%. :sigh:

Are you a doll user? What kind of dolls do you make?

...We've just met and you're already acting so overly familar. Well, my usual dolls were foreign, western clothe-

Wooow, there are all kinds of youkai in Gensokyo, huh. I'd like it if you made me an oshirasame this time, okay?

Excuse me...?



Being at close range kind of cripples Alice's damage, but Suwako has low enough defenses it doesn't matter.

You two are a strange pair.

I guess, but a god's body doesn't show the whole picture.

You remind me of a frog, while that other god's shimenawa is like a snake... well, something like that. Anyways, it looks like you two have a complicated relationship.



Meanwhile Patchy can use Forest Blaze from two panels away, so ironically she's the best of the three magicians at point blank. Getting her through the stage can be a pain, but once you get her firing away at the boss she can do pretty well for herself. As long as she has insurance against damage, at least.

Great! With this, the opening is over!

Tch, first she pops in out of nowhere and now this. Get your act together.

Your attitude is completely different from Kanako Yasaka's. Are you really both the god of the same shrine?

Speaking of that, what kind of relation do you have with the other god? Are you friends?

Ugh, no, not even close! That woman is an enemy, an enemy! She's a savage who took over my shrine by force!

Pardon...?

Aauu~. This used to be my shrine, but because Kanako beat me it's hers now.

That's a lot like what's happening now too, huh.

So are you just a freeloader at this shrine?

How rude, I just leave all the public stuff to Kanako. I'm the highest of native gods, so show some respect or I'll curse you, got it?

Whatever, I'll just shut you up too then!

Looks like you're ready to go. Okay then, I'll have my subordinate fight too.

Now then, Long Arms and Long Legs... come forth!


quote:

Native God "Long Arms and Long Legs"
I missed recording the animation for this, and honestly it's a bit hard to explain. A central V forms in front of Suwako and then danmaku spreads everywhere?

Also I have no idea if the name of this spell is Long Arm and Long Leg or the plural form, but the animation has two soooo




The gimmick to Long Arms and Long Legs is that your characters can't cross the danmaku. This makes getting into formation really annoying, so good thing I already did that.

That funny hat and those clothes... are you a frog? If you are, then you're my specialty! I'll turn you into a frozen frog!

Looks like somebody wants a curse. Just for saying something like that, I'm going to show you something painful, okay?



I had Cirno and Kurumi (who doesn't have dialogue with Suwako) attack as a joke. I wasn't actually expecting them to hit. :psyduck:

Should have used Freeze.


Does the Moriya shrine have a lot of food?

Pretty much. We have the faith of the mountain youkai so we basically live in luxury. We have a scary amount of cucumbers too, so much that it's practically a monopoly...

I'm getting really interested now.



Suwako is apparently the Nobel Gundam.

Seeing you two gods reminds me of those sisters from earlier.

Oh?

The gods called the Aki sisters. They governed autumn for some reason.

Ah, I think I know who you're talking about. I saw them once while I was taking a walk. But because of Kanako's rules I've never talked with them myself.



Private Square causes the animation for Two Bows, Two Claps, and One Bow (yes it's really called that) to bug out. The giant hand thing vanishes while Sakuya freezes time.



Meiling (who also doesn't have dialogue with Suwako) clinches the finish and gets two levels out of it.

Wait, Star had Cheer. Shoot, I haven't used the fairies in so long I've forgotten what they could do.


...Huh, so that's what you can do. That's enough, Long Arms and Long Legs.

That was weird, even for a god. Is she going to keep sending stuff like that out...?

The proud one from earlier is still here too. What a headache.

Oh hey, couldn't you convince Kanako for us? You had your shrine stolen yourself, so you should know where we're coming from.

...Me? Persuade Kanako?

Y-yes. Fighting's no good so...

Ahahaha! Sorry, but I think you guys have the wrong idea. I believe in Kanako's determination. Don't even bother trying to stick your nose between us.

...Well, in the end you're both the gods of the same shrine.

Bingo. We've lived together up till now and it's going to stay that way.

...Exactly. All of that was but ancient history.

Kanako pops in again. Same dramatic entrance too.

Look who's back!

While we may have lost them for now, our dominions once covered great lengths. Allow us to demonstrate my divine power of qian, the ability to create the vast heavens...

...and my divine power of kun, the ability to shape the firm earth. Together, we have the power to create countries. Even if we've come to Gensokyo, that hasn't changed!

Looks like this time they're in the mood to work together!

Come! Witness the combined power of the creator gods of heaven and earth!


Kanako posted:

In the central myths of Suwa, the sky is reined in!

Suwako posted:

In the native myths of Suwa, the land is conquered!


quote:

Suwa War ~ Native Myth vs Central Myth

quote:

Suwa War ~ Central Myth vs Native Myth



quote:

Victory: Defeat Kanako.
Defeat: All allies are defeated.
Bonus: Capture at least three spell cards.

Despite what the victory condition says, you can take down either god. Which one you choose actually determines the last phase of the battle!

I'll be taking down Kanako first this run mostly because that is the natural order of things.




Kanako is kind enough to start right next to me too.

I realized something while I was fighting my way here.

Oh? Has the greatness of my divine virtues finally sunk into your head?

It's true that the Moriya shrine's power is incredible... but I definitely can't work with your methods.

I'll do something about my shrine with my own two hands. I don't need your help!

A shrine maiden who conspires with youkai is mouthing off in front of me...

In that case, I'll have to give you a direct demonstration of my might.

There goes 75% of Kanako's health. I'd show a picture but I kind of... accidentally took a bunch of screenshots of my text editor instead? :downs:



I do have this picture of Kurumi dodging an attack thanks to Alert though! And we all know how important she is.

I guess I should have expected I'd need to psyche myself up for something like fighting a god...

If you're afraid, then you can run away. Puny fairies like you are of no interest to me.

Grrrr, if I ran away after you say that, then I'd be disgracing the name of the three fairies of light! I'm Sunny Milk, and my best trait is my spirit! Now let's do this fair and square!

Music: The Tiny Future Shines Brightly



I moved the fairies in position to use S-Formation, and after two blasts Kanako went down. I wasn't actually expecting the fairies to be able to do 4500 damage, but I guess I underestimated just how pathetic Kanako is on Normal.



:toot:


Kanako posted:

...So you've pushed me this far. For humans you are exceptional.

So you've finally figured out how strong we are!

We've made it this far, so you better not call us weak!

Indeed, with that much power gathering faith should be simple for you. But faith without respect for the gods is meaningless.

Well aren't you stubborn. Sorry, but I don't see you guys doing well either.

Yeah, your way of doing things is busted from the start. Gensokyo doesn't need people as stiff as you.

Stiff?

That seems accurate. All you want is faith, but you demand tribute, instate rules and swagger about. It's pitiful to be so concerned with your image.

Ahaha, pitiful, huh? Well, I can't deny that. What a laugh this all is. But with our shrine maiden so gallantly defending her shrine, we gods have to respond...

In the outside world, you lost your faith... that's what that shrine maiden said.

...I can no longer gather faith from the rains and the winds. Humans have decided that gods are unnecessary, so it was inevitable.

So you ended up in Gensokyo, clinging to your old position as gods.

What else could we do? Accept our fate and disappear? Watch our glory vanish together? Unacceptable, I am a god! And as a god, I will protect the Moriya's history, its shrine maiden, and its shrine.

...So in other words, you gambled everything on coming to Gensokyo.

But your methods show that you refuse to adapt to Gensokyo. If you fail, it's because your priorities are backwards!

Oh? Are you saying you lot have a better idea?

Figure that out yourself. Whatever you end up doing, what I have to do is obvious.

If someone disturbs Gensokyo's balance, I'll exterminate them. Even if they're a god!

...Very well then, shrine maiden of Gensokyo. Let that answer be your sword. Show me if you can reach me from the base of a mountain! Show me if you can reach I, who stand above the winds, above the rains! I, who stand atop of a mountain of faith!

Suwako leaves at this point.


quote:

Mountain of Faith




Mountain of Faith pumps Kanako's defense and accuracy as her HP decreases. The outer fringes also drop your evasion rates. It's pretty intense on Hard/Lunatic, but like the rest of this fight it's a speed bump at best on Normal.

Music: The Restless Spirit and the Virtuous Wind



The animation is kind of funny since regardless of whether Kanako hits, the actual Mountain of Faith part of the attack always gets dodged.



So instead Kanako just fires a bunch of beams.



RIP Kurumi. You could have lived if I bothered to cast Alert, but eeeeeeeh. Kurumi.

I'm gonna tell Yuukaaaaa.



Anyways, thanks to the three fairies I had to spend two turns moving to get in range to finish things. Bombs were dropped and finishers were spammed.



Here's Kanako's cut-in.

Music: The Moment Dreams Reach the Stars


Marisa posted:

Sorry to show you up like this but...

Marisa posted:

Love Sign!

Marisa posted:

Masteeer

Marisa posted:

Spaaaaaaaaark!

Marisa posted:

If you're a god, fixing up your clothes should be easy, right?
the joke is that once you beat someone in touhou, the damage is represented as scuffed up clothing

This probably should have been a video, but I couldn't think of a good song.

Impossible, my divine power was repulsed...?



This time I didn't forget to cast Cheer. Marisa zooms up to level 24 and grabs Valor and Magician 4.



The game is kind enough to give you both of the gods' equipment. Kanako's Onbanshira buffs armor and Accuracy, while Suwako's Oshirasama raises a unit's Cost by 1.0 but also buffs their weapon damage by (Cost * 100).

W-we did it...!

Is this the end...?

...To think my divine power could be defeated... I suppose I'll have to accept your answer.

Woah, wait, are you saying what I think you are?

Indeed. You have won this battle.

Sheesh... why are you still so proud? Well, whatever.

Yes, let's head back to the shrine and discuss things further.

Very well. Have everyone come to the Moriya shrine's main temple.



-----

Tadaaaa, it's time for the Aki Sister's usual Autumn Only Shiritori~!
There's an english equivalent, but I don't actually know if "say a word starting with the last syllable of the earlier word" even has a name beyond "that awkward word game people play when they're totally starved for conversation".

I'll start, then. Autumn.

Mashed sweet potatoes!
Shizuha says "aki", and Minoriko says "kinton". It's an amazing coincidence that the syllables actually kind of match up in english.

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 15:50 on May 30, 2015

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn

quote:

Moriya Shrine
Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text

quote:

Hey Sanae, we won.

Also your gods agreed to change their ways and throw a party for everyone on the mountain.

What.


quote:

Moriya Shrine
Music: The Dream is Here

Full Text

quote:

Sorry we were jerks.

It's cool.

------


Kanako Yasaka
All Attacks


Suwako Moriya
All Attacks

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Mar 25, 2015

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn


The only thing I absolutely need to do pre-battle is redistribute my shells to people with Strike.



There's nothing new with the stage beyond general AI buffs.



On the other hand, Kanako is absolutely not messing around anymore. Lunatic gives her attributes huge buffs all around, and like any good Super she has access to Strike, Guard, and Grit.



Though as usual, casting Guard is gated behind low health in the AI's protocols. Most of the time Kanako will only cast Grit, which is much less annoying.



Marisa is completely useless against Suwako, so she can just blow all of her MP on Master Sparking Kanako six feet under. Alice too.



While Suwako has buffed attributes too, the main difficulty change is that she spawns underwater. Her Small size, S Rank in water, access to the Focus spirit, and the fact that on Hard/Lunatic she starts with Predict active all combine to make her an absolute bitch to hit. And if that weren't bad enough, she has Fury too so she could care less about Support Defense.



Thankfully she still doesn't hit that hard.



My usual strategy is to surround her then wait for her SP to deplete. Once she goes a turn without casting Focus,



everyone loads on as many accuracy boosting spirits as they can and try to take down her first two lifebars in one turn. This isn't as hard as it sounds, as even people without Strike can still trigger Strike'd Support Attacks.



Hilariously, Koa took down the first lifebar at a 35% chance.



Komachi is very helpful here. As I alluded to earlier, her finisher does more damage to enemies underwater. She may have skipped out being useful against Nitori, but at least she can help with Suwako!

...On Hard/Lunatic!



Mokou grabs the kill. It's pretty important that she gets a shell by the way; as you'd expect, her fire attacks are all very weak underwater. And as A Character With Strike, that is kind of a problem!

Theoretically Marisa would deserve a shell too to help her lasers, but Marisa is A Character Without Strike. Barring ridiculous grinding anyway.



Unfortunately, at this point I realized I screwed up. See, the game defaults to Kanako if you time the dual spell out. The only way to fight Suwako last is thus to defeat her, and this is pretty hard since she moves all the way to the left side of the screen! What I should have done was lure her over there back when she originally spawned so my units wouldn't have to move far, but now I basically have to bum rush everyone over while weathering Kanako's attacks. And even then I only get one turn to attack. Faced between restarting and just saving, I picked the latter.
Also I needed to record Mountain of Faith's animation.



Komachi's PS comes in handy here.



As does having useless units sacrifice their turns to bomb away danmaku.



A ton of save scumming later, Sakuya and Marisa (who was shot down immediately afterwards) landed two 7%'s, doing just enough damage that Mokou and Meiling's last Strikes finished Suwako off.

quote:

You did better than I expected again. You're better than I thought.

So you've finally figured out how strong we are!

We've made it this far, so you better not call us weak!

Indeed, with that much power gathering faith should be simple for you. But faith without respect for the gods is meaningless.

Well aren't you stubborn. Sorry, but I don't see you guys doing well either.

Yeah, your way of doing things is busted from the start. Gensokyo doesn't need people as stiff as you.

Stiff?

That seems accurate. All you want is faith, but you demand tribute, instate rules and swagger about. It's pitiful to be so concerned with your image.

Hmph, pitiful? I suppose I can't deny that. After all, our situation is downright laughable. The shrine maiden that minds the shrine, and the gods who were helpless and vanishing...

To tell the truth, I didn't have any future in that society anyway. I mean, that was an era where nobody feared gods or even wanted them around.

In the outside world, you lost your faith... that's what that shrine maiden said.

So you abandoned the outside world to move to Gensokyo...

That's right. Kanako said she was gonna take the plunge, and I decided to throw in with her. Coming here together with Sanae and Kanako... I guess it's like a final game to me.

Is that so? If that's how it was, maybe coming to Gensokyo was the right call. Well, as your new neighbors, let's give you a Gensokyo-style greeting!

Really? I've never heard they do welcomes here!

Of course, if anybody gets too rowdy, I exterminate them!

Sounds like fun! In that case, let me show you why you should fear an ancient god of nature. Let's see if Gensokyo can accept this curse... Show me your answer!

quote:

Scourge Sign "Lord Mishaguji"




gently caress Lord Mishaguji. This pain in the rear end spell can't be timed out, and every turn it slices 30% MP/SP from anyone in its field. And since she also moves to the top of the field, whoever you send to attack her is going to have to endure a few turns of that drain too. If you have Koa around (or even just kept a handle on your MP usage) the MP drain isn't much of a problem, but nothing can be done about the loss of SP.



On Lunatic, there's really no way around this spell but suiciding and save scumming. It's not nearly as bad on Normal (I think the drain rate is -15%?), but then this entire chapter is defanged on Normal.

If you're curious, Mountain of Faith is also much tougher since Kanako is a lot harder to take down now. I'd still rather face her than Suwako though.

Anyway, my aces in the hole are Reimu and Sakuya; at WP level 5, Fantasy Seal has a 56% hit rate at point blank, while Sakuya's World has a 36% with Meiling nearby and is ammo based so it doesn't have to worry about the danmaku. Private Square helps too, though at only a 35% activation rate it's annoying to trigger along with a hit.



Neither of those help on turns where Suwako casts Focus though.



After getting Suwako down halfway I glanced at Komachi and realized she still had one Strike left. This... actually wouldn't have changed my strategy at all, since if I got her in close enough for Support Attacks, the danmaku would have drained her SP away.




After something like 14 resets, the suffering finally ended with a miraculous 10% Ascension Kick.

quote:

I've lost, I've lost. So there are humans as strong as this, huh?

quote:

Ahaha, well done. Who would have thought that I, who created an entire kingdom, could lose to humans.

W-We won... That was an incredible spellcard, but somehow we made it through!

So what now, god of Moriya? Wanna keep the danmaku flying?

Nah, I've had enough fun. I think I'll call it a day!

You're done? Wow, you were totally laid back from start to finish.

Gods enjoy getting chances to play together with humans. I guess that here in Gensokyo, I've got a chance at a second life.

I can see you're happy and all, but... We're not gonna turn around and walk away now.

I got it, let's wrap up the whole business with the shrine. Come into the main shrine. Kanako's gonna want to hear this, too.





Only lost two people. Not bad for my first try in a long while.

------

The game has been paused. Please take a break.

...With the incident resolved, Youkai Mountain and the Moriuya Shrine have completely reconciled. I, along with everyone else, enjoy an unforgettable time.

Thanks to this danmaku battle, the bonds between humans, youkais, and now even gods have deepened...

Now then, please have fun playing Chapter 24 of Fantasy Maiden Wars P: "Danmaku Chugfest"!

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 15:51 on May 30, 2015

Ryza
Mar 15, 2012

Disco Thunder
I went ahead and made all the attack videos public so people can watch them without having to go through this thread first. Enjoy!

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.
Well, that's a shame. Well, if you don't have time then you don't have time.


BlitzBlast posted:

Yup, we've got two. There's me, Suwako, and her, Kanako. Together we're the two pillars of Moriya shrine!

Poor Sanae always gets left out.

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013

Thanks for the LP Blitz. It's a shame you don't have the time to finish it but you've still made what is probably the most complete translation the game's got. You've convinced me to get the game if I ever actually get off my rear end and get back to studying since I don't think i've got enough focus to play a game I can't read.

BlitzBlast posted:

Notable songs:
Brand New Wind (Sanae's player theme, based off REALIZE from Gundam SEED)
The Snow White Angel of Spring (Rally) (Lily White's second theme, based off Fallen White Angel)
The Netherworld's Prism Phantoms (The Prismrivers' combined theme. Sadly, unlike their attack animations, this doesn't reference Aquarion.)
Our Hearts Still Shine Brightly (The Three Fairies' combined theme, based off Soul of Steel)
As Decisive as a Battlefield (Youmu's boss theme)
Above the Gorgeous Cherry Blossoms (Yuyuko's map theme)
The Ayakashi Sheds Spring (Final map theme)

I can upload other songs if you want, but those are the best ones.

Also, you're listing the best songs and you forget the track that plays during Resurrection Butterfly. For shame. (I also really like Yuyuko's regular battle theme. Though it sounds like it might not be so good as a battle track.)

Clarste posted:

Poor Sanae always gets left out.

Sanae's basically a god in training, she doesn't count yet. :colbert:

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Pureauthor
Jul 8, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST
Thanks for taking the LP as far as you did, Blitz. It was nice seeing someone try to handle the Lunatic run.

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