Labyrinth of Touhou 9F

[Nerv-Faktor]

As far as visuals go the art is great but the bloom effect is kind of weird.  At some points it's noticeable but not that bad, like http://i.imgur.com/DEASdVf.jpg, but at others like http://i.imgur.com/hnZViB3.jpg it's really distracting.  Hopefully that gets reduced or removed.

Holy shit, the characters actually look good now.
That's great, to enjoy LoT1 it was almost a requirement to replace the entire charagraph folder.

[I have no name]

That's great, to enjoy LoT1 it was almost a requirement to replace the entire charagraph folder.

>Implying you can't enjoy a game with bad graphics
I didn't put in a charagraph until the postgame.  The plus disc part of the postgame.  (More specifically, somewhere between Rinnosuke and Flame Tyrant but I remember I had default for the boss rush)

[RegalStar]

That's great, to enjoy LoT1 it was almost a requirement to replace the entire charagraph folder.

You guys are too spoiled by graphics

[Ghaleon]

Nice graphics are nice but I'm more concerned about the bgm. ThLaby spoiled us with some amazing music, but the special disk versions weren't up to snuff imo.

As for cootie-suke's late game viability, can't say myself but 8% to all stats may be great depending on what "all" is. Does that include evasion/accuracy, which supposedly isn't possible to boost so easily? How about sp recovery during focus/switch? how about resistances? Etc, I haven't played but if "all" featured stats that otherwise are left untouched most of the time it's probably quite a spiffy spell...And yeah switching faster is guud... How tanky is he?

[Serela]

His High Boost passives may bolster his long-term tankiness, and ability to debuff offensive stats every turn and switch people in with high bar are very useful tank abilities. His heal probably scales up over time like Rumia's did in ThLaby1, as well.

It's realistic to consider at some point you might get his magic thing back and be able to grab new skills.

[Nerv-Faktor]

>Implying you can't enjoy a game with bad graphics

You guys are too spoiled by graphics

Dont get me wrong, the first time I completed the game I played with the default charagraph folder too, and I loved it, otherwise I wouldn't have returned to the game.
But now I don't see a reason to not replace the folder. It takes a few minutes at most and some of the games original artwork barely looks like the character it's supposed to depict.

Nice graphics are nice but I'm more concerned about the bgm. ThLaby spoiled us with some amazing music, but the special disk versions weren't up to snuff imo.

When the special disk came around, I was a bit disappointed to see that you couldn't switch or replace the BGMs as easily as the character potraits. I really liked some of the bgms from the original game and some from the special disk. It would've been great to have those in 2 separate folders, so you could overwrite files and mix the bgms as you want. 

[Fishin]

On the subject of stats Rinnosuke doesn't look too hot either.  With all characters at lv 5 and no equipment or bonuses:

reimu:
hp: 144
str: 77
def: 59
mag: 87
mnd: 93
spd: 104
eva: 8

marisa:
hp: 110
str: 31
def: 49
mag: 123
mnd: 113
spd: 105
eva: 40

keine:
hp: 168
str: 69
def: 77
mag: 105
mnd: 71
spd: 104
eva: 12

rinnosuke:
hp: 159
str: 69
def: 69
mag: 69
mnd: 69
spd: 103
eva: 4

momiji:
hp: 170 (this might be a point or two off)
str: 95
def: 102
mag: 25
mnd: 68
spd: 104
eva: 24

kogasa:
hp: 144
str: 93
def: 90
mag: 43
mnd: 54
spd: 103
eva: 10

youmu:
hp: 196
str: 128
def: 91
mag: 25
mnd: 47
spd: 104
eva: 20


but I dunno, I guess we'll have to see how the spells/stats/skills of other supporter characters stack up.  also it seems like characters do level differently, Reimu was a level ahead of everyone else at one point without any exp-altering skills being involved.

[Validon98]

When the special disk came around, I was a bit disappointed to see that you couldn't switch or replace the BGMs as easily as the character potraits. I really liked some of the bgms from the original game and some from the special disk. It would've been great to have those in 2 separate folders, so you could overwrite files and mix the bgms as you want.

That I agree with. I liked a lot of songs from both groups. Some of the songs from the original group were great songs, but as battle themes... eh. The theme for Rinnosuke should have been the final boss theme, not the one that ended up being the final boss theme. The special disk fixed some of that in most cases, but there were times when I prefer the original songs to the special disk songs. Not in all cases, though (the special disk Boss 2 and Bloodstained Seal, anyone?).

[Ikari]

Been playing the demo for a while, and man, I can't wait for it to get out.

Speaking of the demo, I kinda have two really stupid questions, and I feel terribly dumb. How do you unlock Kogasa/Youmu?

[Ghaleon]

Bwaa, the final boss music is perfect! Its epic, nostalgic, relatively long, and has a girly sound befitting Maribel.

[Fishin]

To get Kogasa you talk to her, fight a squirrel holding her umbrella who has a lv 3 boss marker on the map, then take the umbrella to Nitori with the Ingredient items Insect Husk and some sort of leaf thing which are both found in treasure chests somewhere and she'll repair it for some money, then you take it to Kogasa and she joins.

For Youmu you talk to her, get an event where you find her sword, then go back to the original location and fight her.

also since I was curious and Regalstar didn't do them, some sloppy translations of Kogasa/Youmu's stuff:



kogasa's spells:
Karakasa Surprising Flash: fear, impact, and small damage to all enemies, nature elemental
A Rainy Night's Ghost Story: single target, inflicts fear and lowers mind, vacuum/dark/whatever elemental
Lightly Falling Large Raindrops: row targeting, cold elemental

kogasa's skills:
-LP Boost (2 points per level, max lv 5)
-Attack Boost (2 points, max lv 5)
-Evasion Boost (2 points, max lv 5)
-all attacks inflict fear, attacks that inflict fear already have their effect increased (10 points, max lv 1)
-regenerate HP on focus, and regenerate HP at double speed when in back row (5 points, max lv 1)
-not sure on this one, reduces damage from specific types of enemies depending on how many type of that enemy there are as well as decreasing the status resistance of enemies on attack or something (15 points, max lv 1)
-restores <skill level> mp every time kogasa takes damage (5 points, max lv 2)
-restores <skill level> mp every time kogasa attacks an enemy affected by fear, and increases all her stats by <skill level> x 10% (6 points, max lv 2)
-Motivated Heart (5 points, max lv 2)
-Hands-on Experience (5 points, max lv 2)

youmu's spells:
seem to be pretty much the exact same as the last game.  The last two are missing descriptions so they might have new effects or whatever.

youmu's skills:
-HP Boost (2 points, max lv 5)
-Attack Boost (2 points, max lv 5)
-Defense Boost (2 points, max lv 5)
-Restores 12% of max HP every time Youmu takes action (10 points, max lv 1)
-Bonus damage to ghosts, doesn't stack with additional skill-holders (5 points, max lv 2)
-Whenever Youmu's attack/mag is debuffed, it's changed to a buff and damage is calculated (I assume this just means she takes regular damage if the thing that debuffs her also does damage) (7 points, max lv 1)
-Increases MP regained by focus by <skill level>*2 (4 points, max lv 3)
-Whenever Youmu takes a turn and her MP is full, all stats boosted by <skill level>*6 (5 points, max lv 2)
-When HP is less than (20 + <skill level>*2)%, increases all stats by 25% (5 points, max lv 2)
-Motivated Heart (5 points, max lv 2)
-Hands-on Experience (5 points, max lv 2)

Pity ITH doesn't work properly on the game, it would be much easier to deal with if that was the case.

[Rukoto]

I was about to mention how to recruit Kogasa and Youmu, but I've been beaten to the punch (although I didn't know you needed certain items to repair Kogasa's umbrella and I didn't notice that Youmu lost her sword either, for that matter). Minor correction though on Youmu, her last two spells are multi targeting.

[Raikaria]

What does 'Fear' do?

[LadyScarlet]

I wonder if we'll be able to change character portraits in the full game. Don't get me wrong-- these look good, but sometimes a little variety is good.

[Fishin]

Oh yeah, one more thing is that Row attacks now just can target either all enemies in the front row or back row of an enemy's lineup instead of the reduced damage per enemy hit like the last game.

Minor correction though on Youmu, her last two spells are multi targeting.

Huh, so they are.  Text says single target but I guess that happened a bunch in the last game too.

What does 'Fear' do?

No idea, there's still not a manual or anything.

[Ikari]

Someone definitely needs to do a wiki page for LoT 2. It's getting way too confusing to know what is what, especially with the fact it's in japanese.

[Serela]

If you bring her three of the HP+3 main equipment, you're supposed to be able to recruit Rumia, too.

[Ghaleon]

Ive been out of the touhou loop for sometime before recently. But Zun is still all "no knline purchases" right? Im just wondering cuz itd sure be nice to just paypal/dlsite thlabh 2 instead of the old comiket supplier+snailmail routine. When its released i mean.

[qazmlpok]

The Special Disk is still on melonbooks.com (the digital site) and Japanese dlsite. It seems that it was removed from eng dlsite at some point, though.

But yeah, you'll probably be able to buy it easily from melonbooks when it's out. They don't seem to restrict foreign purchases at all, and you can sign up with your pixiv account.

[Nerv-Faktor]

Would it even matter what ZUN thinks about online purchases?
I mean this is a doujin game, ZUN is not involved. A lot of other non-official touhou stuff is available for online purchase too, so why would this be an exception?

[Ghaleon]

Would it even matter what ZUN thinks about online purchases?
I mean this is a doujin game, ZUN is not involved. A lot of other non-official touhou stuff is available for online purchase too, so why would this be an exception?

Of course he isnt involved, but i still distinctly recall him asking that people NOT sell their products featuring Touhou via the net... That was kinda his term for permission to use his IP, why? No clue. If thats respected or or ignored i cant say but there was a big enough discussion about it that this wouldn't be some weird one time exception im sure.

Anyway thanks nameless fairy =p

[SuccinctAndPunchy]

Of course he isnt involved, but i still distinctly recall him asking that people NOT sell their products featuring Touhou via the net... That was kinda his term for permission to use his IP, why? No clue. If thats respected or or ignored

I'm fairly sure they tend to honour that kind of unwritten agreement. To clarify, I don't think ZUN is against ordering physical copies via the net, I think he's against digital distribution for games that use his IP.

Judging by the fact I can't find a single Touhou fangame available for digital purchase, I'm going to assume the japanese respect his decision.

[Ghaleon]

I'm fairly sure they tend to honour that kind of unwritten agreement. To clarify, I don't think ZUN is against ordering physical copies via the net, I think he's against digital distribution for games that use his IP.

Judging by the fact I can't find a single Touhou fangame available for digital purchase, I'm going to assume the japanese respect his decision.

That's what I thought... I was just hoping he has changed his mind since my 1yearish hiatus ='(. It would be easy enough to look but I get scared browsing webpages in languages I don't understand which include cash charging and stuff =P.

[qazmlpok]

I'm fairly sure they tend to honour that kind of unwritten agreement. To clarify, I don't think ZUN is against ordering physical copies via the net, I think he's against digital distribution for games that use his IP.

Judging by the fact I can't find a single Touhou fangame available for digital purchase, I'm going to assume the japanese respect his decision.

http://www.melonbooks.com/index.php?main_page=search&cond=eyJ3b3JkcyI6eyJrZXl3b3JkIjoiXHU2NzcxXHU2NWI5In0sImZpbHRlcnMiOlsiZmVtYWxlIiwiYm9vayIsIm11c2ljIiwibW92aWUiLCJzeW91Z3lvdSIsInBhcHlsZXNzIiwiYWR1bHQiXX0%3D&page=1&order=release&sort=desc&query=%E6%9D%B1%E6%96%B9&tab=keyword&filter=1

No, there's a bunch of them. And this is just melonbooks; other shops like gyutto and dlsite will have a lot of overlapping stock, but probably have a few that are exclusive to them.

[Rukoto]

If you bring her three of the HP+3 main equipment, you're supposed to be able to recruit Rumia, too.

Just managed to recruit her, and indeed she does require 3 of those hp+3 main gears. It works if you have exactly 3 of them, too, it just means you won't have any of them after recruiting her. From a first glance, she has the same 3 spells as before, and appears to be magically inclined as she was in the last game, while leveling at the same speed Reimu does. One problem: Her spells aren't doing any damage at all (they do 1 damage if I'm lucky). She can do regular damage with her basic attacks, so I'm guessing her spells don't have actual damage formulas implemented or something. Furthermore, her spells are all single target spells, even though Demarcation mentions something about HP. Also, her actual spell costs don't match the costs in the description either :V

[Serela]

So Rumia is not even properly implemented :V Amusing.

[SirChaotick]

Blind player signing up again...

I beat Flandre very satisfyingly, at Reimu lv73. Only Komachi and Reimu were alive at the end, and I had to end it with a Fantasy Seal. Quite close.

Rinnosuke on the other hand... I don't like it one bit. I've grinded everyone up twenty levels since Flandre and my chances seem to be no better than they were back then. My success is seemingly entirely determined by how often he decides to cast Start of Heavenly Demise.
I've managed to make him cast something called "Form Shift", which makes him sparkle in a different colour, and it seems some of his attacks shift to elemental ones then. Doesn't stop him from casting Scarlet Gold Sword or Start of Heavenly Demise though.

Is there something I'm missing here or is this just a luckfest?

[I have no name]

Is there something I'm missing here or is this just a luckfest?

Yes and yes.
I'll spoiler the battle info so you only see what you want to see, just know that I beat him at level 100 on my first playthrough.

Start of Heavenly Demise is

Spoiler:

a composite attack.  Have Reimu buff for her opening move and it's easily survivable.

.
Form Shift means that

Spoiler:

he has switched into on of his elemental forms.  He has one for each element and it's weak to the opposite element.  He has an uber move in each elemental phase that happens at a scripted point, and if you don't kill it fast enough he switches to another and starts healing that form.

When he uses Form Shift back to his initial form (will happen eventually)

Spoiler:

you've almost won, you just have to deal with a form that has 150 affinity in every element, only uses Scarlet Gold Sword and Start of Heavenly Demise IN ADDITION TO

Spoiler:

World Shaking Military Rule, a buff on every attacking and defensive stat.

So yes, luck is the defining factor in this fight but there is a bit more to it than at first glance.

Tai slash

It's Iai Slash

[Ghaleon]

May I ask HOW you got to him at level 70ish? That seems really low.. like.. I was reimu 91 IIRC in my last playthru and that was with NO GRINDING AT ALL...though I did make sure I explored every floor completely for loot and..well, just cuz I like my maps to be nice and finished looking.. Have you not been doing that? Are you running from fights? I just dun get how you can be so low.

But anyway that move should actually be one of his weakest (though it would be strong at such a hilariously low level), and should only be a threat if he opens up with it on his first move (before you can def buff). Personally I find Tai slash and ratsetsu fist to be his 2 annoying moves, the former worse in general, but the latter making you need to be absolutely sure you always have at least a certain amount of health.

[Fishin]

The item you need to recruit Rumia (Manga Meat) says it gives you HP regen rate +3, not HP +3.  Not sure what that exactly means (3% of max HP per tick when in the back row, maybe?  Anything else I can think of like +3% to healing received seems pretty weak for an item you can only equip one of).  Anyways, according to the descriptions at least, Rumia's spells all do the exact same things they did in the first game, except that Dark Side of the Moon (and Demarcation for whatever reason) are now Dark while Moonlight Ray is still Mystic.  Her skills:

-MP Boost
-Magic Boost
-Mind Boost
-Boost all stats of everyone else on your front line by (SLv*12) if your front line is Rumia, Cirno, Wriggle, and Mystia
-Reduces Dark damage taken by party if Rumia is on the front line
-Increases damage against humans if Rumia is on the front line, does not stack
-Allows Rumia to ignore defenses entirely against enemies with extremely high defenses
-Decreases the rate at which the encounter rate counter increases by (SLv*10 + SLv*2) (and yes, that's really what the formula says).  Stacks with other skills but caps at 75% reduction.
-Motivated Heart
-Hands-on Experience

lv 5 stats:
hp: 112
str: 40
def: 49
mag: 86
mnd: 71
spd: 103
eva: 32

good to see that Team Baka runs are a reality.  All her unique skills cost 5 and the max lv on all of them is 2 so I'm guessing that's incomplete.

On another note, it seems like the regular stat boost skills give a little less than 1.5% a level at the cost of 2 skill points, max lv 5 (remember that this boosts their base stat, so bonuses from library, level-ups, and equipment will benefit from this too).  Rinnosuke's High Boosts, however, cost 6 points per level with a max lv of 5, but give roughly a 13% boost per level for STR/MAG and 8% for DEF/MND.