Author Topic: [VLP] I'm cashing in on all-female-ghostbusting - Let's Play Ghost Hunter Reimu  (Read 8189 times)

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
Hi there fellow Maidens! After a good amount of preparation, I have a new video project at hand. My pick this time is...

Ghost Hunter Reimu

It's a pretty new game, and its pleasant cover art is only one of the reasons to take a closer look at it:



   

I don't think this game was ever mentioned on this forum, but it was made by BlueMica, responsible for RemiDoki and the two Code R-games. We have Kuilfrayt to thank for this thread, as he's in the process of translating the ingame texts and conversations for me and the purposes of this Let's Play. I would not have touched this if all I could say about the cutscenes was "some Moonspeak and stuff is happening".

Additional information:
- This Let's Play only covers Reimu Mode in full. Youmu Mode and the Extra Stage will receive a quick coverage in a bonus episode at the end.
- This is no speedrun, so I will try to get Netherworld Seals and Complete Kills on all areas. Hopefully this will be possible without revisiting stages, but if not, there's always editing...
- There's something in the world of video games called "having multiple endings". If this is something that exists in Ghost Hunter Reimu, you will see them all. :D

Video List:

Part 1 - Who ya gonna call?
Part 2 - Child's Play!
Part 3 - Off with their heads!
Part 4 - Sleeping with the fishes
Part 5 - Come to the Dark Side of Shinto!
Part 6 - Thriller Night
Part 7 - Let's croak us some Toads!
Part 8 - Five Nights at Yuyuko's
Part 9 - To boldly go where many games have gone before
Part 10 - Twin Peaks

Bonus - The videos this sword cannot cut are next to none!
Extra Bonus - A job for Ryu Hayabusa
« Last Edit: April 30, 2017, 06:40:00 PM by Gesh86 »

Hello Purvis

  • *
  • Hello Jerry
This looks kinda neat. How difficult/punishing does it get?

I can't help but notice that Reimu's hitbox is her butt.

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
This looks kinda neat. How difficult/punishing does it get?

The main game is medium-ish compared to most non-shmup Touhou fangames. Don't expect your first playthrough to be too clean. The Extra Stage seems very tough and I've not yet finished it.

I can't help but notice that Reimu's hitbox is her butt.

A part of the body one wants to keep safe, so it fits as well. Saying "waistline" instead was a classy dodge I guess...   :3.

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
It's Sunday, my favourite day for uploading, and I've got part 2 of our exotic ghost-hunting adventure ready! I wanted to use the thread for some further loadout explanations. Here are the items you already have on starting a new game:


Charge Attack - 2 slots - Having this lets you simply attack enemies with your sword. It also enables a charge attack by holding down the button, which I haven't shown because I tend to forget I have this ability. Forgetting about it should be a hint that it's not so essential.
Simply having "Charge Attack" equipped raises HP by 1.


Energy Bolt - 1 slot - Our standard ranged attack. Very weak, but good enough for the reason that it's a straightforward, unlimited-use attack that can hit about half the screen's distance.
It has no passive bonuses to it, so you wouldn't lose anything if you unequipped it. There are indeed reasons why you might want to, but I don't think I've ever done so.


Small Recovery Potion - You start out with 3 of these and each drink is worth 2 HP. I recommend you do so in emergencies only, as you'll have to rebuy them. Unless you buy better ones anyway.
The design reminds me a little of the elixir from Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist. Difference is: If you drink that one, you die horribly  :V.

Here's another written summary of what we bought in the first minute of episode 2:


Ice Magic - 6.000 souls, 1 slot - Without any power-up by another purchasable perk, this creates 4 icicles, of which 2 fly upwards and 2 downwards. Not quite easy to hit with and not very strong, but costs only 1 MP for every use.
Cost is not too steep. Simply having it equipped grants 1 additional MP.


Inner Strength Enhancement - 5.000 souls, 1 slot - Not much to it: Have it equipped, gain 2 HP. Purchase cost is a pretty low. Great in the early game and still good later on.

Here's another loadout screen for summary. It's what we're starting into the level for episode 2:

« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:14:40 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
We can't let all of August pass without at least one update! Here's part 3 and another loadout summary to go along with it:


Guard Beheader (or Guard Beheading) - 7.000 Souls, 3 slots - An incredibly valuable blocking skill. I go on and on about it in the video, so little else needs to be said about it. Tooltip says it also increases HP by 2, but from what I can tell, it's only an increase of 1. Either this is unintended or a side-effect of also having Charge Attack equipped.


Sword Enhancement 1 - 5.000 Souls, 1 slot - Increases the grade of all sword skills by 1. These can improve the nature of strikes slightly, for example in range. Overall, the increase in attack power is the most noticable. A good one to have, as melee shouldn't be underestimated in this game.


Antidote - 1.000 Souls each - An antidote gets rid of poison, as antidotes typically do. At most, you can stock up on 3 of these, we bought 2 for the episode.

When you put everything together, we have this going into the episode:

« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:19:55 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
It must have looked like this LP was cancelled and died. Sorry for leaving this for so long, but apart from a few issues out of my control, the very addictive Sid Meier's Civilization VI came out and further postponed the Ghost Hunter Reimu episodes (in sum, I'm proud to say that game only cost me about a week where I didn't do anything LP-related :3).
Anyway, Part 4 has finally arrived, the next couple of episodes should follow much, much sooner than that one. Our purchases this time:


Lightning Magic - 8.000 Souls, 1 slot - A paper charm is thrown that will call the heaven's wrath on all enemies it brushes. One cast costs 2 MP, simply having it equipped will grant 2 additional MP.


Spell Enhancement 1 - 5.000 Souls, 1 slot - Increases the grade of all spells by 1. Like the Sword Enhancement, overall power is boosted and nature of all spells is changed for the better. Having this will also grant 1 additional MP.


Large Recovery Potion - 2.000 Souls each - Drinking this will give back 7 HP. Very useful, but make sure you use a build where your maximum HP is at least 8. Otherwise, this is losing in effectiveness to 3 small potions independent of the situation.

Here is another summarizing screenshot. Notice that it says 11/12 lampposts, 2 more than before. I'll weave an explanation of that into episode 5, but so far it is not relevant:

« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:27:33 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
It's time for another, much more timely update! Part 5 is ready for your viewing, and so is our purchase overview for today:


Wave Attack - 10.000 Souls, 2 slots - Our stationary stabbings emit a shockwave that increases their reach. We threw "Charge Attack" out for it, because I basically never charge melee attacks. Simply having it increases our HP by 1.


Ghost Power - 3.000 Souls, 1 slot - Our mysterious ghost gauge fills up 30% faster. Now why would we want that...?

Here is the next summarizing screenshot of our loadout and as promised, let's go over what 12 / 12 lampposts means. For her equipment, Reimu has somewhat of a weight maximum, and the value for it is 12. This value can never be increased throughout the game and each skill / magic / and passive takes up a number of this value ("slots" is what I'll also call the weight cost of an upgrade). This means that in our case, our space is completely used up and we can no longer buy new upgrades and simply use those. We'll always have to unequip something we have used before. Consumables do not take up any slots by the way.



I'll add the slot costs for upgrades we've bought in the past shortly.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:34:51 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
Part 6 is done sooner than usual, mostly because it is a short (and sweet) episode. A small correction for around the 3-minute-mark of my commentary: All skull conjurers can make up to 4 skull piles depending on what part of their attack pattern they are at. Video was already done and dubbed when I noticed there wasn't really a difference between weak and strong ones in that regard  :blush:. Anyway, shopping:


Spell Enhancement 2 - 7.500 souls, 2 slots - Increases the grade of all spells by 1. You're supposed to use this in combination with Spell Enhancement 1 to become an even better mage. I think it may actually have no effect if it's worn without its predecessor. Simply having Spell Enhancement 2 increases MP by 1.


Guard Beheader Enhancement - 8.000 souls, 1 slot - Increases the range of Guard Beheader's bullet deletion by 1.5. 1.5 of what I don't actually know, that's just what our translation gave us. Pixels? Feet? Yards?  ??? A more earnest guess: Maybe 150% is meant? Simply having it increases HP by 1.


Full Recovery Potion - 5.000 souls - Gives back all HP and MP and will even cleanse poison on top of that. Only one can be brought with you to a level. Imagine if that weren't the case and you could just farm for loads and brute-force levels with this wonder drug...

We'll end on the summarizing screenshot, as always. The symbols for Wave Attack in the first row and Ghost Power in the fourth had to go. In Wave Attack's case, I'm certain it's not gone forever. I hope to be switching around and experimenting with all kinds of builds in the future.

« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:39:16 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
Part 7 gets very dangerous! Looking back at it, there were definitely many parts where my gameplay was oddly flustered, a bunch of weirdly nervous motions. Hard to believe, with our ever continuing shopping adventures preparing us with new gadgets:


Fire Magic - 6.000 souls, 1 slot - Throws an exploding fireball in the direction you're facing. A very pragmatic, straight-forward spell that does lack a little finesse but packs a punch nonetheless. As another upside, it only uses 1 MP per cast. Simply having it increases MP by 1.


Internal Power Absorption - 5.000 souls, 1 slot - Improves drop chances of green HP-souls and yellow MP-souls. Possibly would have made the later sections of the attic-stage less nerve-wracking. A useful, but generally not super important upgrade in my opinion.


Spiritual Power Fountain - 4.000 souls, 1 slot - Time until a magic point is regained is lowered by 30%. I've personally never tried waiting just for my MP to come back and I wouldn't recommend it. It is very slow overall. Still, if you always carry this around, it will amount to a good bit over the course of a level.


The summarizing screenshot shows us a magical miko fit for Hogwarts. What house would she land in? Anything's fine as long as it's not Hufflepuff, the bottom-placing house of losers.

« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:45:14 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
Happy Holidays to you all! I had the idea of overlaying the audio of part 8 with Christmas songs instead of my voice, but quickly reconsidered. Reimu is not exactly having a jolly time today...

Upgrades are getting sparser and sparser, we have almost everything that's remotely good I'd say:


Sword Enhancement 2 - 7.500 souls, 2 slots - Increases the grade of all melee strikes by 1. When it comes to dps, nothing can beat a warrior-archetype Reimu. Except Youmu who is almost restricted to being such a character. Simply having it increases HP by 1.


Life Power - 3.000 souls, 1 slot - Does not actually have anything to do with increasing health, instead, our ghost gauge will fill up 30% slower. If there's any stage you want to take this along for, it's today's.

Here's the summarizing screenshot showing a normal and content Reimu with her loadout. No way she would ever be any different than this, right?

« Last Edit: January 07, 2017, 06:51:16 PM by Gesh86 »

Lt Colonel Summers

  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • Do not mess with a soldier
That ghostly pale skin and evil-looking face at the end of part 8... Is Reimu going to become an undead zombie miko?
There's nothing inscribed on the dog tag...

commandercool

  • alter cool
She's already getting an uncanny resemblance to Yoshika. That may very well be the case. Just keep away from hats with the tag still on please Reimu.
I made a PADHerder. It's probably out of date though.

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
That ghostly pale skin and evil-looking face at the end of part 8... Is Reimu going to become an undead zombie miko?

She's already getting an uncanny resemblance to Yoshika. That may very well be the case. Just keep away from hats with the tag still on please Reimu.

Don't be so pessimistic! Maybe she just wants to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a member of the Blue Man Group?

Part 9 is here and it will NOT shine any light on what is happening to Reimu. But I guess it's a video? Of a level that was decided to be put in the game and all?

We have so many souls to spare, so here's a new purchase:


Critical Attack - 9.000 souls, 2 slots - Increases the chance to land a critical strike by 20%. Looking at it, yikes, is it expensive! I really do hope that, as I'm thinking, it's a sensible alternative to Sword Enhancement 2. Simply having it increases your HP by 1, so it at least doesn't lose when it comes to that factor.

We see the loadout briefly at the start of the video (just so that you don't think the ending of the last one was but a bad dream  :D). Here it is once again, less fleeting so that you have the chance to even decipher it:



I couldn't think of a more balanced, "safer" configuration. Jack of all trades, although master of none. Very good on the defensive with 10 HP, too, as well as elongated bullet blocking.

(Small info: The next episode will take a while longer to release. It's the most heavy on dialogue yet and I haven't received all of the translations yet)
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 07:33:56 AM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
It's been long. Far, far too long (You do still remember what this game was, don't you?)! But today we get our conclusion in part 10! If you were expecting an expansive final level, well...see for yourself. I personally like the idea BlueMica had for the end there.

Only a single new purchase was sensible to get for today:


Homing Magic - 12.000 souls, 3 slots - A flurry of enemy-seeking projectiles. My opinion of this spell is...meh, whatever. Its absurd cost of 3 MP per cast make you expect something of an ultimate spell. It's decent-ish, overall. Kind of good for who we have to face at least.



Apart from the loadout above, we also have another one:



Wait, whaaaat? Why two? You'll understand at around half of the video's runtime. Anyway, stay tuned for the bonus episode! If it takes months again, it was Genso Wanderer's fault!
« Last Edit: March 21, 2017, 08:27:46 PM by Gesh86 »

Lt Colonel Summers

  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • Do not mess with a soldier
Most of this post is spoiler material for the game, so for those who haven't beaten the game or seen the end of Gesh's LP yet, stay away.

Spoiler:
Wow, the bad ending really did pull a fast one by making Youmu the final boss, and actually turning Reimu into an undead zombie miko. Didn't see that one coming...
It's also quite a nightmarish scenario, I admit.

The good ending, which is also the true ending, reveals that Alice is actually brainwashed (I totally saw that one coming despite the lack of indications. Genre Savvy much?) by... whatever that "kinky" kimono really is and whoever actually gave her that kimono (which according to the context, is definitely not Yuyuko). I have a hunch on who the true mastermind might be: a certain green-haired evil spirit from the PC-98 games?
Also, Alice in-game looks absolutely nothing like the way she's depicted in the game's poster.  :derp:
Funny part about where Reimu complains about not being able to slack off for the rest of Summer.  :]

Hey, Gesh. Since you're already playing Gensou Wanderer, mind doing an LP of it?
There's nothing inscribed on the dog tag...

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!

Hey, Gesh. Since you're already playing Gensou Wanderer, mind doing an LP of it?

I generally don't shoot for hasty, blind Let's Plays :D. When I've spent enough time with it, I'll think of what will happen. Maybe I'll settle for a "Let's Take a Look at"? A roguelike dungeon crawler as a VLP seems pretty daunting to me, but you never know. Its pack-in Double Focus seems like something more typical for me, but I've only installed it so far, not played it beyond making sure the download code worked  :derp:.

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
Time for a bonus episode, dedicated to all the little things I could think of and that I believe to be worth discussing. Here's an overview of some of the spells / techniques shown:

Reimu's leftovers:


Shield Magic - 10.000 souls, 2 slots - A fleeting barrier that cancels out all bullets that touch it. 2 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 0:33 timestamp.


Vortex Magic - 10.000 souls, 2 slots - A draining, circular field that builds up about half a screen from where you shoot it. 2 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 1:44 timestamp.

Youmu's techniques:


Combat Focus - 1 slot - Automatically turns your next hit into a critical one (double damage). You have this as soon as the game starts, which is nice. 1 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 8:40 timestamp.


Energy Wave - 15.000 souls, 1 slot - The next attack will spawn a slow moving ranged attack that can also be angled up or down. 2 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 9:04 timestamp.


Space-Time Cut - 25.000 souls, 1 slot - Creates a vertical line that cancels bullets that touch it. 3 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 9:38 timestamp. Decided to give it a cool name here, as I never really did in the video...


Super Jump - 15.000 souls, 1 slot - Allows Youmu to make a single jump about twice as high as she normally can. 1 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 10:02 timestamp.


Ghost-half Support - 30.000 souls, 2 slots - Youmu's ghost half will sporadically aim and fire at nearby enemies. 4 MP per cast, demonstrated at the 10:33 timestamp.


Ground Slam - 15.000 souls, 3 slots - Nope, this is not Guard Beheader, it just lazily uses the same symbol and can be found in the same spot of the inventory. Youmu crashes towards the floor with this move, impaling all enemies in the path. 2 MP per usage, demonstrated at the 11:09 timestamp.

For the gameplay starting at the 13:57 timestamp, this is our loadout:



The ability in the first row I believe increases the range of your slashes? (Didn't actually check that one with my translators, may need to experiment some more in the following days)
The skill in the fourth row with the butterfly in its graphics gives you a small chance to spawn souls on receiving damage. They may be red money souls, green health souls or yellow magic souls. I'm unsure if it ever proc'd in the recording, but it can help out at times.

The item mentioned at the 18:13 timestamp is this one, available to both Reimu and Youmu:


Substitution Doll - 7.000 souls - When hitting 0 HP, revives you back to having 1 HP. I think this can allow you to survive the otherwise insta-killing bamboo spikes of the game. Can be useful, but I'd rather bring medicine against any HP-shortage and accept any spiky death I brought upon myself. Only one can ever be carried, another disadvantage.

Still undecided if I'll tackle the Extra Stage. But if not, I'll already say: Thanks for watching!
« Last Edit: April 10, 2017, 07:07:22 PM by Gesh86 »

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
Surprise update! I cracked my knuckles and played the Extra Stage again. Here's what came out of it



Can't think of any other pictures to post at this point, so have fun and see you next Let's Play!

Lt Colonel Summers

  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • Do not mess with a soldier
So, Gesh, how do you spell the extra boss's name? I can't get head-to-tails on the spelling from the way you pronounce it.
There's nothing inscribed on the dog tag...

Gesh86

  • Buddha may forgive you...
  • but Byakuren won't!
So, Gesh, how do you spell the extra boss's name? I can't get head-to-tails on the spelling from the way you pronounce it.

The spelling should be 邪鬼-王 (jagi/jaki-oh). I think it might be a demon-daemon thing whether you say it with a "g" or "k". Reimu's voice actress speaks it with a "k" so I followed  ::).