Dreaming of Doppelgangers- Let's Play Nightmare of Rebellion - Ran! (Hiatus)

[Validon98]

After an update of almost nothing but videos, going back to a completely screenshot-filled update is kind of like returning home.

Dream-Eating Tapir Act: Part 1- Welcome to the Velvet Room

So, last time we beat up all of Ino-Shika-Chou in one fell swoop, and although our group doesn't know it, we're on the trail of Arare, Hakusen, and Mengniang in an attempt to finally end the incident.



Dungeon Theme: Snowy Road 2 (Child of Are)

So from now on, the Snowy Road areas will have this song playing instead of the Paradise ~ Deep Mountain remix from before. Sounds like things are getting more serious, even in the transitional areas.



We already have two ways to go. To the left is progress, but to the right...



...We run into a Kong. They're really annoying, having the ability to do what I believe is Enervation from the prior games. Hits everyone, and reduces your attack power. It's these enemies that made me finally go back to the party setup I had in my last run: having a FIR/ELE/WTR mage and a LGT/DRK/MYS mage. Mamizou's the former, Marisa's the latter. Hitting these guy with high powered Fire and Light spells works wonders.



And an Ochre Jelly. Pretty much just an upgraded Slime, nothing really to see here.



The ultimate prize of the right-hand route is a Blue Door Area. Would you believe there's only three more of these in the entire game? No, really, I'm not joking.



Katawagurumas are a pain. They can use Hit and Run and it REALLY hurts the person with a Mind Flayer on. They are weak to Water and Light, but otherwise... ughhhh...



We start getting higher values of those bullion items now. Nice, these give about 1000 Points per.



The Weiss Katze up top is just a stronger Schwarze Katze, but otherwise isn't too big of a threat compared to some of the other enemies in the area.



IT RETURNS. AND IT IS KINDA SPOOKY. The Laughing Tire also loves its Hit and Run, and otherwise is fairly tough to take down. Pelt it with Electric attacks to bring it down.



And our third-to-last gap of the game, only two more after this. We get Ichirin, Futo, Nue, and Reisen from this.

Ichirin is more or less the LGT/DRK/MYS equivalent of Nitori, being a Warrior who focuses on granting bonuses to those elements and chasers. She also gets a little bit of Land Influence bonuses as well. Her skill is An Unarguable Youkai Punch, which chases Light and Dark attacks as you'd think.

Futo is another Ranger who deals with boosting the power of critical hits. She also gets some basic resistance to attacks that inflict percentage damage. She's also the Ranger that shores up the type 6 weakness for sparking, which works mostly well with Bow skills, given how many Bow skills are type 6 ones. Her skill is Rainy Iwafune, which is just an attack that restores MP on hit. I guess that's useful in a pinch, but otherwise not really a great skill.

Nue is an odd Magician who figures you don't just need a tiny boost to MDEF. Her whole deal is granting insane MDEF bonuses, alongside some HP bonuses. She's basically the "tank" of all the Magicians. Her skill is a one-turn MDEF buff to the whole party that, at the end, releases an all-targeting magic attack of the highest Land power's element. For every magic attack you tank during this one turn, the damage increases, similar to Counter Aiming.

Reisen is one of the last few Specialists we'll be getting. A lot like how she works in Genius of Sappheiros, she gets special Slayers against enemies that are inflicted with Permanents or Varieties. The issue is mostly that she doesn't have a huge number of hits in melee or ranged, so she can't use that special Slayer to her fullest potential. Her skill is Mind Shaker, which is a single-target attack that inflicts Dispel, but deals a lot more damage for each Variety effect that gets dispelled.



Oh hey, a Vorpal Bunny. All the Devil of Decline postgame enemies are hanging around. Weak to Fire as a Beast, they're rather dangerous since they can Blind you and inflict Instant Death. Fun to deal with.



A huge amount of armor recipes here, on top of upgrades to all the status effect resistance accessories we've been picking up along the way.



Back on the way to the other path, I grab a Togakushi Kureha, the only remaining doppel from the pre-Large Gate areas that wasn't added as a doppel in the expansion (there's otherwise the Maogui, which I'll probably go back to get in the next update, since it's not a particularly hard doppel to get). Anyhow, she's got a lot of various Slash skills, starting off with Branding Iron, but sadly she never gets Gale Sword, that's not until way later on another doppel altogether. She also grants Slash resistance, if you're into that sort of thing.



Looks like we're reentering the Great Wall of China. The theme of that dungeon even plays here.



Just another Power Extension lying around. That happens.



And another Blue Door Area. Second-to-last of the game!



Right in the back is a Thunder Volnehem. Whatever that might be. Like the Zebra Volnehem, it usually goes with breath attacks, but this one is weak to Fire instead of Electric.



The Botan Dourou in the back is yet another reference to a more regional Japanese folklore story that I'm not too familiar with. Undead and weak to Fire and Light as a result, she... isn't too notable. I don't even remember what she does.



Two new monsters here, the Thunderflies and a Metal Solid. Thunderflies, like the Dragonflies, are fast, just replace Flame Breath with Discharge Breath. This means they're weak to Fire instead of Water. Meanwhile, the Metal Solids are fairly tough to take down, only Strike is going to do any real damage, although it's also very weak to Mystic. Getting Rainbow Ray and Energy Riot from the Mind Flayer doppel is very useful for dealing with these guys.



Next-to-last gap in the whole game. We actually have most main doppels we'll get in the game now. This particular gap gives us Youmu, Lyrica, and Satori.

Youmu is basically the Warrior equivalent of Eirin, in that she grants ACC and Certain Hit bonuses left and right, with a few PATK bonuses. She also is the Warrior that shores up the weakness to type 8 skill sparking, making her the main doppel to rely on if you want some of the best attacks in the game (especially since, naturally, only Saya and Mamizou can even learn that type). Her skill is Slash of Eternity, which hits 4-6 times.

Lyrica is one of the last Priests we'll be getting, and she mostly focuses on granting casting speed bonuses to all Defensive Support skills. She also reduces the MP cost of all-targeting Defensive Support skills by 1 right off the bat, plus she gets some nice RES bonuses. Her skill is Bosendorfer Divine Performance, which is an all-targeting attack that otherwise boosts the damage of the rest of the party for the rest of the turn. Good for setting up a series of large nukes one after the other.

Finally, Satori is a Magician with a focus on MP regain. She gets Meditation bonuses as well as a few defensive bonuses like MDEF, RES, and EVA. She even gets some small magic casting speed bonuses here and there. Her skill is Brain Fingerprint, which just restores 1 MP to all allies. Not the most useful skill. Neither is she the most useful Magician, to be honest.



Ho boy, a Cave Guardian. He's not the trickiest Dragon to deal with, but he still is a Dragon, so there's not much in the way of weaknesses to exploit. Just hit him with your hardest attacks before he hits you with his breath attacks and otherwise nasty physicals.



And in the back we have a Silk Spider, who I swear we should have ran into earlier. Like most spider types from prior games, she can use Spider Net, which reduces ACC/EVA, and Paralysis Zapper, which hurts rather hard for a physical attack. Weak to Water, and you should try to kill her quickly.



This recipe chest is all of the +1 versions of the stat boosting accessories we've been picking up. I haven't missed one yet, so we'll be able to upgrade them once we get the materials to do so. Unlike GoS and DoD, you don't find better versions of these accessories, you have to upgrade them one tier at a time whenever you get the recipes.



And that's all she wrote when it came to those Blue Door Areas. We've now got another new area to go to.



The Station, huh? Well, I would love to catch a train, but we'll leave that for next time. Are Hakusen and Arare lying in wait for us here? Or will someone else try to give us the cold shoulder?
...Validon you did the HCBailly thing again. Please stop it.

Summary:

New Doppels: Ichirin (Warrior), Futo (Ranger), Nue (Magician), Reisen (Specialist), Togakushi Kureha (Commando), Youmu (Warrior), Lyrica (Priest), Satori (Magician)

Doppel Levels: Sakuya (Slayer Power +15), Mind Flayer (Mystic Casting Speed +10; Energy Riot, RES +7), Schwarze Katze (STR +1), Dragon Maid (HP +10), Three Fairies of Light (Weight Reduction -6), Eirin (Certain Hit +10), Komachi (IND +10), Utsuho (LGT/DRK/MYS Casting Speed +10; LGT/DRK/MYS Power +10, Mega Flare Power +10), Nitori (Chaser Power +5), Yuki-onna (Polar Blast, DEX +1), Nashorn (Magic Heal, VIT +2), Nue (HP +10), Togakushi Kureha (The Law of the Jungle's Final Strike, STR +2; Samidare Slash, DEX +2; Dark Hand, VIT +2), Hellhound (Fang Crush, Fire Casting Speed +10), Kaguya (Tree-Ocean of Hourai Power +10), Patchouli (Philosopher's Stone Power +10), Meiling (PATK +3)

Major Equipment: Tragedy (Yukari), Launch Goggles, Compound Bow, The Slicer (Reimu), Enfield, Lightning Amulet, Light Rod (Marisa)

Synthesis Recipes: Brilliant Mantle, Life Robe, Cursed Robe, Crest Leather, Shadow Cloak, High Close Armor, Segmentata, Brigandine, Restraint Amulet, Nerve Amulet, Soul Amulet, Variety Amulet, Death Amulet, Quick Amulet, Strength Necklace +1, Keen Pendant +1, Protection Anklet +1, Barrier Earrings +1, Sniper Anklet +1, Keep-Away Muffler +1, Launch Goggles +1, Perseverance Rosary +1, Gale Boots +1, Muscle Belt +1, Magic Ring +1

Synthesis Done: Wicked Cardigan (Marisa), Shadow Cloak (Saya), Brigandine (Reimu)

Sparked Skills: Splashing Charge (penetrating attack that decreases PDEF temporarily), Ice Crush (Water elemental single-target attack, Saya)

Update Death Count: 0
Total Death Count: 1

I usually game over pretty hard in those Blue Door Areas. Maybe I'm a little higher leveled than usual. Or I'm playing it smarter than usual.

[Validon98]

Instead of just doing one update as planned, I ended up doing like one and a half or so updates before actually posting this one, so I'm probably just going to post both updates today, one now, one later tonight. Sometimes it's hard to hold myself back from continuing on with playing the game to work on doing the actual writing and then this happens. Mostly because we're getting to one of my favorite areas of the entire game.

Dream-Eating Tapir Act: Part 2- The Train is Late!

Thankfully, this next area isn't as maddening as Radical Train. Hahaha... haha... haaaaaa...

Cutscene: Arrival at the Train Station

Once again, Saya can only marvel at stuff that doesn't belong in this place. Granted, it's not like train stations didn't exist in 1912, just not in this location at that time. It's just something more out of place than actually anachronistic.



Dungeon Theme: The Train Station which Leads to Hell (Dark Side of Fate)

Oh hey there Hina's theme. You might not be in this game like the last two, but you're with us in spirit... right? Anyhow, time to head through the Station!



I'm sure it's fine to board this train. It's just sitting there, right?



...So uh... yes, an enemy is just a set of train tracks. Yes. This is the Closed Railway Crossing. It uh... tries to debuff you, and the like. Weak to Electric. Not questioning it. Nope.



Down there is a Jason. Looks like it's more doggie than machine unlike the previous game. Anyhow, it uh... does stuff. It's not really too threatening, and Fire and Electric both sort of knock it down a peg or two.



A Yin-Yang Orb already? What, expected us to completely die just from the first few encounters? I end up saving this for later.



Jasons are considered a Saboteur by the game, which doesn't really fit. He really focuses more on using shield skills and other barriers to protect the party. Yeah, he gets Hellclaw Assassination later, but given one of his first skills is Shield Wall, shouldn't he be a different kind of doppel? Ah well.



Down on bottom is the next magician type, the Sorcerer. She can pelt you with tier two elemental skills, so you'll want her gone as fast as possible. Dark and Gun, as always, gets the job done.



And the Closed Railroad Crossing joins us. Remember the Succubus? It's kinda like her, just with more focus on debuffs. It also has Gutless, an all-targeting one, so that's not too bad.



Stay classy Strawberry Bose.



Ugh, a Yato no Kami. Another Dragon type, he loves to reflect magic back at you, and is otherwise a huge pain to take down.



Nice, an Amethyst. Remember those +1 versions of those accessories? We need these to craft those, so stockpile them whenever you can. Fortunately, enemies in the area can drop them, and I manage to craft a couple +1s as a result.



Another number of hits level, this time it boosts Evasion Chances that were already 3 to 4, and boosts all 2s to 3s. This ought to help with evading hits coming up.



Down at the bottom is a Genin, who enjoys his critical hits, instant deaths, and Blinding your party. Weak to Light and Gun (not Dark and Gun as per usual for Warriors), but fortunately not too bad.



Man, this sure is a useful little jump here. Yup. Totally.



We make it in front of the boss door, but there's still some exploration before we take her on.



Mostly to find this recipe chest. More armor!

Cutscene: The Strongest Attacks!

Damnit, is EVERYONE we know going to assume we're tanukis or doppels right off the bat? Ugh, guess all the convincing in the world can't stop Cirno from going after us.



Boss Theme: The Fierce Battle of the Fantasy Maidens (Heian Alien)

I wish I could say that this boss theme is wasted on Cirno. It's not, she's actually a fairly rough fight if you're unprepared. She flings Water attacks left and right, and can use Perfect Freeze, which hits everyone and stuns them for a turn. Even worse is her other special attack (whose name I don't know). She hits someone with Ice Chill, then that whole row is targeted with another attack that has a rather high chance of Instant Death. She's fairly tough to hit with physicals, but Electric works well on her. The best way to go for this fight is to spam her with Electric skills, while keeping up Windshield, Accurate Weapon, and Counter Magic whenever possible. Of course, I failed to use Counter Magic at all during either of my two attempts.



Safe to say, attempt 1 went poorly, although I ALMOST beat her. If Yukari had just done a tiny bit more damage, she would have done it.

Boss Fight: Vs. Cirno

This fight went a lot better the second time around, thankfully. Still a lot of cheap shots against Mamizou, but otherwise not as bad.

Saya: Fluid Axe, Icehouse Shield, Shadow Cloak, Strength Necklace +1, Sniper Anklet +1, Suika, Crazy Undine, Hinoenma, Magician

Reimu: Flame Sword, Fiber Guarder, Metal Bikini, Barrier Earrings, Protection Anklet, Sakuya, Togakushi Kureha, Jason, Dragon Maid

Marisa: Light Rod, Danmaku Guarder, Wicked Cardigan, Ice Ring, Gale Boots, Sanae, Miko, Traveling Schoolgirl, Schwarze Katze

Yukari: Tragedy, Lobster Scutum, British Warmer, Keep-Away Muffler, Drizzle Amulet, Remilia, Slime, Mind Flayer, Closed Railroad Crossing

Mamizou: Sage Staff, High Magic Kimono, Keen Pendant, Perseverance Rosary, Kaguya, Fairy Maid, Yuki-onna, Nashorn

Cutscene: The Strongest Admits Defeat!

Well uh... looks like we beat her up a little too bad, and now she's in shikigami/doppel form. At least she joins our party?

Cirno is a Magician main doppel that is rather odd. She gets what's called "Self Resistance", which uh... I don't know what that does. I assume it's "resistance to one's own attacks", which means she won't murder herself if her attacks get reflected back at her. Overall, she's not quite as tanky as Nue, but her stat spread leads one to think that, plus she gets some bonuses to Water and Stun-type spells. Perfect Freeze, of course, is an all-targeting Water attack that can Stun.

With that done, we move along. Let's finish up the rest of the Station in one go, ey?



Oh boy, a Lesser Demon and a Hell's Gatekeeper. By this point, the Foreign God types, like Lesser Demons and such, are rather dangerous to face. You can kill one off in like two turns or so, but expect to get clocked in the face hard before then with strong physicals and Dark attacks. The Hell's Gatekeeper down below, like with a lot of birds, can use Nose Dive/Swoop and otherwise throws a lot of Water attacks at you. Weak to Electric at least.



When crossing the door between trains, we got warped or something to another one. That's... odd, but okay.



FIRST YUKKURI I MANAGE TO KILL.



Down below (alongside another Yukkuri) is a Leaf Tengu. I think he uses Electric attacks but otherwise doesn't do much. Light does away with him just fine.



We're right before the actual boss of this place, which we'll take on next time, but first things first, we missed some things.



Like these Dragon King Palace Messangers, or just Oarfish if you prefer that. Oddly weak to Electric themselves, they spam Electric at you all day every day. Sadly we don't have Iku with us to tell them off or something, but she's an expansion-only reward code doppel, so we won't be seeing her for a loooooooong time.



And finally, some more armor pieces alongside some upgrades to some accessories that start dropping around this time. I've never gotten a lot of these accessories, and some of them have heavy tradeoffs, but they're around. I believe the expansion made their drop rates not abysmal, so you're more likely to grab a drop or two here and there. That said, next time, we'll take on the boss of the Station and proceed ahead to the enemy's headquarters.

Summary:

New Doppels: Jason (Saboteur), Closed Railroad Crossing (Medic/Synergist/Saboteur)

Doppel Levels: Komachi (ACC +6), Jason (Physical Defense, VIT +2; Magical Defense, VIT +3; Element Shield Wall, VIT +4; Hellclaw Assassination, VIT +5), Closed Railroad Crossing (Mist, Snare, RES +2; ACC +3, Paralyze; RES +4; ACC +5), Utsuho (LGT/DRK/MYS Power +15), Togakushi Kureha (STR +4), Ame-no-Hoakari (Starlight Shower, Light Land Regen (15)), Traveling Schoolgirl (VIT +1), Youmu (PATK +3; Certain Hit +7, ACC +5), Slime (HP +10), Hinoenma (Dark Riot, Dark Element Power +15), Magician (Flame Burn, Polar Blast, Thunderstorm, DEX +2), Crazy Undine (Freeze Impact, Physical Deflect +15), Suika (HP +10), Miko (Healing Magic Power +5), Rumia (FIR/ELE/WTR/LGT/DRK/MYS Element Power +30), Dragon Maid (DEX +1), Kaguya (Land Influence +50)

Major Equipment: Heat Wave Amulet, Flame Sword (Reimu), Crimson Bow, Icehouse Shield (Saya), Lobster Scutum (Yukari), Sage Staff (Mamizou), Mantis Gauntlet, Drowsy Dagger, Drizzle Amulet, Winchester Trench Gun, Elf Bow, Purified Hammer (Saya)

Synthesis Recipes: Salamander Bolero, Undine Bolero, Sylph Bolero, Sunflower Armor, British Warmer, Hard Shell, Metal Bikini, Plate Mail, Exorcism Robe, Morion's Stone Robe, Chose Shave Armor, Rebellous Spirit Armor, Magic Plate Mail, Grendel Gauntlet, Oversoul Ring, Ninja Gauntlet, Murderous Mantis Gauntlet, Platinum Gauntlet, Mystic Ring

Synthesis Done: Strength Necklace +1 (Saya), Sniper Anklet +1 (Saya), British Warmer (Yukari), Metal Bikini (Reimu), Keen Pendant +1 (Mamizou)

Sparked Skills: Armor Crush (single-target attack that inflicts PDEF Down, Saya), Sonic Boom (penetrating attack that Slays Stunned enemies, Reimu), Magical Hammer (single-target attack that inflicts Resistance to FIR/ELE/WTR/LGT/DRK Down, Saya), Burning Lance (Fire elemental single-target attack that temporarily reduces PATK, Yukari), Life or Death Charge (single-target attack that inflicts Dispel, Yukari), Explode Fang (row attack that makes weapon effects more likely to proc, Reimu), Demon Bane (single-target attack that Slays Foreign Gods, Reimu)

Update Death Count: 1
Total Death Count: 2

The sad thing is that Cirno really isn't that hard and I should have won on the first shot, but ah well.

[Validon98]

I find it sad that I went ahead and basically got enough screenshots/videos/progress for two more updates after this one. I don't know if that's me being overexcited to get through this section or what.

Dream-Eating Tapir Act: Part 3- Tanuki World Order

You know you've been watching too many "This is How You Don't Play" videos when you make a KWO reference in the title.

Regardless, before the next boss fight, I wanted to go around and deal with some of the potential doppels I missed here. There are quite a few, and some of them are rather rare. There was only three I was aiming for, and I missed a couple, but they're rare and hard to get anyhow so I'm fine with that.



First off is the Hell's Gatekeeper, another Water-based Elementalist on the level of the Hellhound and the Nashorn. I'm going to try to level this guy and those other two as fast as possible to grab their best skills, since they all get the third tier single-target elemental skills (Disintegrate, Zero Kelvin, and Mega Stroke) at roughly level 7 or 8 before a certain upcoming boss fight. I've never managed to do that in prior runs, but then again I didn't know they had those skills until later on.



Here's one of the other doppels I want to recruit, the Power. Another angel-type Foreign God, he can pretty much one-shot you with a lot of his physical attacks. Weak to Dark otherwise, you have to take him out quick. Oddly enough, he is one of the few doppels that require only 4 kills to guarentee recruitment. You'd think it'd be more like the Lesser Demon, who I think requires 16 like most doppels we can get at this point in the game, but nope.



Another rare encounter here is the Minotaur, who also hits like a truck, but is otherwise weak to Stab attacks. They can be recruited, but they only appear in the last parts of this dungeon, are rare, and take quite a few kills to guarentee recruitment, so I don't end up picking it up. I don't think I've ever gotten one in any playthrough ever.



Finally got the Sorcerer. Another Ravager, she's your replacement for the Fairy Maid (other than if you need Land Control, of course). Starting off with the second tier elemental single targets (Detonate, Thunderbolt, and Cold View), she gets the third tier elemental skills much later on. I'm still going to level her as best I can, but the Hellhound/Nashorn/Hell's Gatekeeper are probably going to get their third-tier elementals first, especially since most of them are level 6 by now and will hit level 7 uh... hopefully within the next area or two.



Aaand Power get, that wasn't too bad. While he grants a huge weakness to Dark and resistance to Light, he'll eventually learn Divine Gate, the third-tier Light elemental single-target, which is pretty damn handy. I went into the last parts of the game with practically no high powered Light skills the first time I played, so I'm aiming to correct that for this playthrough. Also, if you're going to use the Power, bring along some way to negate that Dark weakness, it's pretty painful.

But with that out of the way, I have everything I want from here. I could have spent more time and gotten the Lesser Demon and the Minotaur, but I don't need them. There'll be a better replacement for the Lesser Demon coming up anyways, and the Minotaur... eh. He would have granted a bunch of shield skills, but those skills aren't particularly as good in this game as they are in GoS or DoD.

Cutscene: The Tomboyish Tanuki's Grand Entrance

Looks like Mamizou knows Hakusen from past experiences, whatever they were. From what I can make out from the text, I believe that right now, Hakusen first off claims herself the mastermind (which we know she isn't, because she's taking orders from Mengniang), before stating the current incident is basically a bid to increase the power of youkai. I can see the point there: youkai in the Outside World are basically dying, and if they can't get to Gensokyo, well, they're screwed. But at the same time, why not just head to Gensokyo? The Hakurei Barrier has been up for about... almost 20 or so years by 1912? This seems a little strange to not want to just head to Gensokyo, but I suppose that they want to reclaim the Outside World as a haven for youkai. I mean, that's great and all, but look, there were decisions made by some of the elder youkai to try to create a place for youkai to live on while the rest of the world was starting to forget about them. Gensokyo was already filled with youkai before the barrier went up (as a reminder, Gensokyo has always existed, all the Hakurei Barrier did was seperate it from the rest of the world and left the place it used to be to humans).

So naturally, we oppose this idea, since again, the Outside World was left to the humans, and Gensokyo was meant to be a youkai haven. As it stands, Toono has been turned into a second Gensokyo, but right smack in the middle of the Outside World, which means if they decide to roam, all hell will break loose internationally. That'd be a horrific incident we'd be unable to solve, so we're going to have to nip it in the bud here and now.



So... Hakusen. She's not an easy fight. First things first, Dark resistance, have it on everyone. She will just spam a bunch of Dark spells, debuffs, and the like at you. She has two different spellcards, one that I have no idea what's the name of, but does a high amount of Dark damage that you basically will die to without having good Dark resistance on everyone and inflicts All Down, and another one, Tanuki's Train Transformation, which basically runs you over flat and deals a set percentage of your HP. It uh... pretty much hurts like hell and it can kill you pretty hard I think if you have a debuff on.

Boss Fight: Vs. Hakusen, The Tomboyish Tanuki

This is probably the best I ever have done on this fight. The main reason mostly is because I never really used Kaguya to help with Land manipulation so that you can get far away from Dark Land. Also having Starlight Whip helps.

Saya: Purified Hammer, Icehouse Shield, Shadow Cloak, Strength Necklace +1, Sniper Anklet +1, Suika, Crazy Undine, Nashorn, Hinoenma

Reimu: Flame Sword, Fiber Guarder, Metal Bikini, Barrier Earrings, Protection Anklet, Youmu, Togakushi Kureha, Jason, Zebra Volnehem

Marisa: Light Rod, Danmaku Guarder, Wicked Cardigan, Keen Pendant +1, Gale Boots, Kaguya, Mind Flayer, Ame-no-Hoakari, Fairy Maid

Yukari: Eagle Spear, Lobster Scutum, British Warmer, Keep-Away Muffler, Dark Ring, Remilia, Slime, Sorcerer, Closed Railroad Crossing

Mamizou: Sage Spear, Morion's Stone Mantle, Quick Charm, Perserverence Rosary, Sanae, Miko, Traveling Schoolgirl, Schwarze Katze

Cutscene: The Tomboyish Tanuki's Grand Exit

Hakusen fesses up that she's only one of the three involved in the incident, and mentions that the others are back in a place known as the "Castle of Dreams", which Yukari seems to recognize. While the others simply go on ahead, it seems Yukari knows something about the Castle of Dreams and the people who live there. Hmm... ah well, it's probably nothing.



And we're back into the Snowy Road. Not for that long, though.



The Sunflower Fairy in the back isn't too much of a threat, she just buffs her allies and kinda dies to Dark easily.



"Hey Saya the Castle of Dreams is the other way, where the hell are you going?"



Bacteriophages are uh... there. I don't even think they do much, just kill them with Light and move on.



Nice, we got the Sunflower Fairy. While the Schwarze Katze focuses on multi-target buffs, the Sunflower Fairy focuses on single target buffs, which are stronger but of course are only applied to one person. They do have their uses, especially if the people using her has Nazrin equipped.



The final Blue Door Area of the game, so let's get it out of the way.



In the back is a Hell Amikiri. It's not that much stronger than the original Amikiri. Weak to Light, it just tries attacks like Drill and the like.



The Otoroshi returns here as a semi-rare encounter around here. It's not that much more stronger than the original, and it's probably one of the easiest of the rare enemies around this part of the game. Just punch it with Light and whatnot and you'll be fine.



The Improved Crossbow Soldier Company in the back is just a stronger version of, well, the Crossbow Soldier Company. Punching it in the face with String, Gun, or Dark will more or less destroy it, but its attacks can hit pretty hard, so be careful.



And we finally get the last number of hits for the whole "cycle" of levels that upgrade them. This time, all the 1s go to 2s, and all the 2s that are Evasion Chances go to 3s. The next level that increases number of hits, if I recall, should increase all the 5s to 6s, etc.



And here's the final gap of the game. There's still some other main doppels we can get, but they're all gained from cutscenes and boss fights. Anyhow, from this last gap with get Yoshika, Miko, and Murasa (or Minamitsu... I still can never tell which of her names is her first name).

Yoshika is the last major "tank" Warrior we get, who focuses on tanking magic damage. She has a set chance to null magic that climbs all the way to 50% at level 15 (the expansion level cap for doppels, before it was 10), and that's pretty much all she's for. Her skill is Magical Eater, which is a row-targeting attack that nulls all magic against her for the rest of the turn. It's pretty nice.

Miko is much like Yoshika, just a Magician instead. A combination of Magic Null, IND, and HP bonuses, she's another tank-like doppel. Her skill, Falling Stars on Divine Spirit Mausoleum, completely restores her MP, which is a pretty nice skill I guess. Otherwise Miko is a sort of not the most useful doppel.

Finally, we have Murasa, who I think is the last Specialist we get pre-expansion. She's all about fields, granting bonuses of all sorts, plus she also gets some bonus Ranged number of hits later on. Her skill, as always, is Final Anchor, which is a field that blows up after two turns, dealing damage to enemies. It's... not very good of a skill in this game. I guess it might get better later on but it's otherwise not that good.



And here's another recipe chest, which gives the usual armor and a few more accessory upgrades. With that out of the way, we can move on to the next area.

Cutscene: Arrival at the Castle of Dreams

So, this place looks pretty interesting. Also it rises out of a bottomless hole in the ground, kinda like the Demon Castle of Chaos or the Clock Towers of the End. It's probably been summoned here with magic or something.




It also looks like a Chinese-style castle, which... is a little out of place. I suppose since the owner is Mengniang, or at least I assume it's Mengniang, that makes sense. She is a tapir, after all, and before they were adopted as the Japanese "baku", they were a Chinese youkai. Next time, we enter the Castle of Dreams, which is probably my favorite dungeon of the game, but be wary: the boss fights from here on only get tougher.

Summary:

New Doppels: Hell's Gatekeeper (Elementalist), Sorcerer (Ravager), Power (Spiritualist), Sunflower Fairy (Medic/Synergist), Yoshika (Warrior), Miko (Magician), Murasa (Specialist)

Doppel Levels: Yuki-onna (Glacial Javelin, Water Land Recovery (15)), Youmu (PATK +5), Hell's Gatekeeper (Polar Blast, Water Casting Speed +5; Nose Dive, AGI +1; Healing Water, ○ Sleep; Water Casting Speed +10), Nashorn (STR +1), Schwarze Katze (Defensive Support Casting Speed +5), Hellhound (Melt, AGI +2), Mind Flayer (DEX +2), Sorcerer (Star Shining, POT +1; Shadow Burst, Fire Power +2; Electric Power +2; Water Power +2), Sanae (All-targeting Defensive Support Skill Level +30%), Togakushi Kureha (HP +10), Patchouli (Philosopher's Stone Cooldown -1), Zebra Volnehem (POT +2), Power (Light Element Power +10; Starlight Shower, STR +1; Alignment Shelter, Light Element Power +15), Remilia (PATK +6), Closed Railroad Crossing (DEX +3), Jason (Healing Water, Shield Skill Casting Speed +10), Meiling (Shield Activation Rate +8), Yoshika (RES +5; Magic Nullification 15), Fairy Maid (Detonate, Cold View, Thunderbolt; INT +2)

Major Equipment: Broomhandle, Tlahuizcalpantechuhtli, Eagle Spear (Yukari), Springfield, Imitation Slayer, Magical Booster, Silence Bow, Stella Maris (Reimu), Huherdei Mergen, Youkai Hunter Bow

Synthesis Recipes: Spiritual Robe, Exorcism Mantle, Golden Bamboo Armor, Death Armor, Flame Scale Armor, Strongest-er ZUN Hat/Super Ultimate ZUN Hat (whichever translation you prefer), Red Beret, Gold Silk Hat, Rune Cap

Synthesis Done: Morion's Stone Mantle (Mamizou), Keep-Away Muffler +1 (Yukari), Gale Boots +1 (Marisa), Plate Mail, Magic Plate Mail (Reimu), Protection Anklet +1 (Reimu)

Sparked Skills: Force Through (attack that ignores defense, Reimu), Sudden Slash (all-targeting attack, Reimu)

Update Death Count: 0
Total Death Count: 2

[Validon98]

And so my daily update chain is broken because I felt like taking a break. On the flipside, though, I have everything figured out for the rest of the updates for this act.

Dream-Eating Tapir Act: Part 4- Idolmaster Celestial Girls

A friend of mine is going to probably kill me because of this reference, but it kinda wrote itself given one of the cutscenes in this update.



Dungeon Theme: The Bewitching Youkai Castle 1

And so, this is a Castle of Dreams, my favorite dungeon of the game. I love its theme, I love its look, and it's a final dungeon of a sort. Let's forge ahead!



Our first new enemy here is the Otohime, who, like previous games, throws debuffs of all kinds at us, particularly all-targeting ones that we don't even have access to for awhile. As a Dragon type, she also has no weaknesses. Fun, right?



So you know how I said this was a Chinese-themed castle? Well, a lot of Chinese-themed youkai appear here, the Xing-Tian up top and a Zhenniao down below. The Xian-Tian mostly focuses on hitting you with some Blunt skills like Venom Strife and the like that can hit pretty hard. I think it can also use Burst Shock, which actually hurts pretty hard and hits everyone. Thankfully weak to Light and Slash, and since we have the Power, we can use Royal Flash, which can Blind them. The Zhenniao is yet another bird type enemy, so it uses Swoop. A lot. Just whack it with Stab and/or Electric.



Oh hey, three new enemies in one. The Gargoyle is weird, being pretty much a bird-like enemy (Swoop and all) that pretty much can't be hurt by anything but Strike attacks and Water attacks. Everything else doesn't work too well. Water works the best, of course. The Daolaogui up top loves throwing Poison at you, and multi-target Poison at that. It's pretty dangerous, but otherwise it's Undead, so Fire and Light will just completely blow it up. Finally, there's the Lycanthrope down below. Weak to Electric and Stab, it will pretty much slam you with Hellclaw Assassination. I forget if it has the ability to Berserk you like it did in DoD.



I'm no master of Chinese mythological creatures, but what is this thing? A Shisa? Something else?



Woo, got an Otohime. She's got a large variety of skills she gives, mostly debuffs and stuff like Dispel. She also grants resistance to all Permanent Effects, which is pretty nice. Even if you don't want her for the skills, she's wonderful for the resistances.



I don't think this area even needs a Yin-Yang Orb, it's fairly short.



I mean, we're already here at the Waypoint before the boss. Before that, I went back and filled out the map, of course.



And I end up running into the last new enemy, the Will-o'-the-Wisp. It has very, very, VERY high Evasion, and is more or less immune to magic. Killing it is an exercise in frustration. If you have the chance, use Accurate Weapon or something, you basically need to in order to kill it, or otherwise use high accuracy attacks.

After getting all the treasure and the like, I head off into the boss fight.

Cutscene: Gensokyo's Very Own Celestial Idol

So this cutscene somehow manages to be a double-callback to both Genius of Sappheiros (remember when we found Chen basically knocked out on the Youkai Mountain because Anastatis kinda went nuts? Yeah, this is similar, just a tanuki instead), and Devil of Decline (I'm pretty sure someone mentioned the Chaos Incident, or specifically how Tenshi acted during then). Also, Tenshi seriously called herself an idol. Yes. Yes this is why I named the update this. The idea of Tenshi being anything like an idol is uh... yes. That's a thought. Anyhow, blah blah blah, she wants to solve the incident herself and has no room for us, so we fight. Exactly like Devil of Decline, huh?



So, our third match with Tenshi in the Strawberry Bose games, and as usual she's all about high power attacks and generally requiring you to be well on your guard. Like in Devil of Decline, she wises up to you trying to exploit her weakness to Dark and uses Alignment Shelter on herself, instead of Jammer, which makes it even harder to deal with. Yukari has Life or Death Charge by this point, but if she somehow doesn't, Dispel can also work (both the Miko (as in the sub-doppel) and the Otohime get it). All of her attacks are high-power, so you better get Windshield up and fast, and even THAT won't save you. Defending will help in this fight more than you'd think.



First attempt was a fairly big bust.

Boss Fight: Vs. Tenshi, Gensokyo's Idol

We get it on the second try, thankfully. Whew, this fight is pretty tricky, huh? Also, this was the point where I decided to stop writing down my setups, because they're fairly apparent from the video and my descriptions.

Cutscene: Gensokyo's Celestial Idol Gets Shooed Offstage

I love how Reimu compares Tenshi to Cirno only for Tenshi to go doppel form... just like Cirno. Seems like Tenshi isn't overly bothered by this, but then again this happened back in Devil of Decline when she went shikigami form. I guess she just cares more about playing hero than whether or not she's near a state of death. Either way, Tenshi joins our party as a main doppel!

Another Ranger, Tenshi shores up the type 8 weakness for sparking skills just like Youmu (I find it fitting, she's such a chunni that she'd obviously want to try doing all the flashy high-powered skills). Her passive bonuses are mostly for ACC and for boosting the power of her skill. That skill, speaking of, is Kaname Funnel, which is a 100% guarenteed hit that ignores all evasion. It's like a guarenteed Certain Hit proc, so it's nice on enemies that have high evasion.



So, looks like we can finally head inside what might be the main keep. Next time, we'll head in and see what lies inside the main part of the Castle of Dreams.

New Doppels: Otohime (Medic/Synergist), Tenshi (Ranger)

Doppel Levels: Yoshika (○ Poison), Murei (Healing Magic Power +3), Power (PATK +5), Slime (VIT +6), Hinoenma (Decompose, INT +2), Crazy Undine (DEX +6), Utsuho (Mega Flare Cooldown -1), Keine (Field Skill MP Cost -1), Seiga (PATK +4)

Major Equipment: Pedersen Rifle, Uncompromising Flail (Saya)

Sparked Skills: Saint's Cross Slash (single-target attack that Slays Undead and Youkai, Reimu)

Update Death Count: 1
Total Death Count: 3

Why is it the bosses that are technically supposed to be midbosses the ones that are killing me? I guess I underestimate them.

[Serela]

Alright... I'm getting too tempted to go ahead and play this considering that the resources are out there, you've clearly got enough working knowledge to fill in any difficult gaps in understanding (along with the basic shikigami overviews we're getting, and probably provide like, a translation of the character stat screen so that I know what the heck is doing what), and that a translation is likely never going to happen for this game.

So if I was gonna play this myself (I totally check for updates on the LP daily <3 I am a strawberry bose addict, these strategy-based RPGs are my JAM) what resource links would I need to have? Like the jp wiki(s) or whatnot :D

The biggest "BLAH" is probably navigating the sea of weapon skills and their effects (Wait, do you still have to equip certain weapon skills to use inbattle? I'm not sure if you're just selecting from a list of all of them or not, now, because you've got a bigger selection than in other games) and certain accesssories, but I assume elemental resist ones (and basic stat boosts) will show on the status screen, I won't need status resist -too- often for it to be a huge pain, and when it comes to skills they're elementally color coded and have range shown and, best, organized by shikigami so it's easier to not mix them up. The main thing -there- is just keeping straight which buffs and debuffs are which on the shikigami with lots of 'em.

[Validon98]

Alright, so, sources and information and whatnot. I mainly use the Japanese wiki here, and the blog by the guy who also wrote up a bunch of information on Devil of Decline, Phantasmal Summoners, and Marisa's Kirisame Magic Shop here. The wiki is somewhat incomplete, while the blog has way more technical information that's spread about quite a bit. I have been trying to compile all of this information into a spreadsheet that I've yet to upload (mainly because I want to finish some translation work on it, also partially because it's formatted super weirdly and doesn't have quite everything done yet), but I might upload the incomplete version just so that there's some sort of basis that can be worked off of. Lot of work left on it but I think I can at least get it somewhat thrown up, mostly so that someone could populate the wiki with the information.

As for weapon skills and whatnot, the menu's at the bottom of the status/equipment screen:



You just pick up to six skills from any category you want. Unlike Devil of Decline, you can have up to six skills per weapon type equipped, in case you want to dual-wield (reminder that dual-wielding, while allowing for a variety of options, also weighs you down and makes you slower, so unless you think you can afford to throw on a bunch of Weight Down enchantments, it's not 100% recommended).

As for the stat screen, well... I did post it earlier, but I can post it again with some translations on it. Gimme a few minutes, my laptop just told me it needs to restart for updates, but I'll throw up a translated stat screen once that's done. Also, I need to upload my images and videos for the next update and that'll be coming out in like 1-2 hours. So there's that. :V

EDIT:



And stat screen translation. Sorry about some overlap and whatnot, there's not a lot of room to put in the text and everything. Also, if a translation were to be done for this game somehow, I think this font I used would work perfectly. Viner Hand ITC, for those who care.

[Serela]

Neat C: I can probably wait until the spreadsheet is done if you're working on it, as I'm not in a rush. But meanwhile a BARRAGE OF QUESTIONS (this will probably be almost all the ones I have to ask, as most of the mechanics are familiar from previous games... like shields. Jeez, shields. XD Them and their support skills are a doozy all by themselves.)

What do the /0s (and /29) mean here?

And one thing I'm not quite clear on, what do offensive/defensive support hits actually... do? Do buffs become stronger with more hits...? I figure more offensive support hits means a higher chance of landing your debuffs/statuses on the enemy. And, does Weight do anything other than make your turn come later because you're weighed down and slow? (Sorry if you've gone over any of this already, there's an awful lot of text to try to backtrack through- I cut out a few questions by skimming back through with /find )

Hmmm, when it comes to dual-wielding... there's six weapons, but AFAIK the standard three physical types. So a person can swap between Blunt/Gun/Staff (not that there's staff skills- huh, is dual-wielding one or two just easy bonus magic power?) and Spear/Bow as needed without toooo much trouble other than needing to spark more skills? (And, obviously, melee/ranged having different hit numbers, so not all characters are suited to using both) And speaking of sparking, I heard you can spark new Last Words, too. Hmm... and other than using different Hit numbers and weapons, is there any real difference between Melee and Ranged?

edit:Oh, the wiki says the base value of Hits for each character is completely dependent/overwritten by your main doppel. Is this true for all of your stats, e.g. you can use any of the 5 characters for any job and it only matters what doppels they have on? (Apart from, of course, their proficiency levels and spark abilities)

Last thing is just that I went back and checked, and you didn't seem to really talk about how swapping Main Doppels mid-fight works. I figure that's because it's really Just That Simple and there's no restriction or penalty other than you can't use dead ones.

[Validon98]

Going to post the update right after I answer these questions, so sorry if it gets lost behind an update. X_X;

The 0/0/29 are PATK, ACC, and EVA for your off hand weapon. Since Saya has a shield in that picture, the PATK and ACC values are, of course, 0.

Offensive/Defensive Support number of hits... I think they mostly affect the strength and duration of buffs/debuffs/status effects. I noticed people with lower number of hits on offensive support inflicted status effects for less turns than ones with higher number of hits. Of course, there's also Induction and the influence from DEX, so I dunno all the specifics on that.

As for swapping between Blunt/Gun/Staff and Spear/Bow, yep, you can totally do that and keep the Strike/Stab element levels, all you have to do is spark the skills again, which is simple since with an already high element level, the sparks should come easily, especially as you go later in the game. In the next update, for example, I swapped Saya to Guns briefly, and she learned skills pretty fast. You can spark new Last Words, but we haven't gotten to that point yet, since a lot of them require an element level of 20 (yes, 20, it's a pretty dang high requirement and the chances of sparking are very low even then).

There's otherwise no major difference between Melee and Ranged number of hits other than whether you're using Sword/Spear/Blunt/Staff or Bow/Gun. Also, I don't know if dual-wielding staves will grant a double magic boost. I'll have to try that out, I'll let you know next chance I get (I don't have a huge amount of time).

Finally, for swapping Main Doppels mid-battle, you can only swap between doppels of the same armor class (Warriors and Specialists, Rangers and Priests, and Magicians only with Magicians). Also, once you swap your Main Doppel, the one you swapped out of becomes "tired", and you can't swap back to it for the rest of the battle.

Anyhow, posting update right after this. :'D

[Validon98]

Double post goooooo!

Dream-Eating Tapir Act: Part 5- OUT in a Blizzard

Subtle foreshadowing, courtesy of Validon.



Dungeon Theme: The Bewitching Youkai Castle 2

Well, this dungeon theme is pretty intense, and it looks like we're in the actual halls of the Castle of Dreams. Mengniang ought to be around here somewhere, so let's find her!



Oh hey, a tapir statue. How relevant.



Barrier Stone puzzles oh no how horrible.



Those Maleficent looking women are Baigujings, who are all Undead and thus weak to Light and Fire. They spam Dark spells all day but generally speaking your mages should be able to outspeed them. At the top is... oh god... oh no... DAMN COCKATRIIIIIIICE.
Sigh... as usual, Petrification attacks abound. Weak to Electric and Stab, but you better wipe them quick, they're even worse than Mind Flayers in my opinion.



This floor pattern sorta dazzles my eyes for some reason.



Down below is a White Snake (in Japanese it's just "white lady", but in Chinese it refers to the story of Lady White Snake). She can use a bunch of attacks like Venom Zapper and the like. Reminds me of one of my characters who... well, is also a white snake.



Hi there Barrier Stone, you're coming with me.



...Or not. I guess I ought to go around another way.



I believe it's this one we need to pick up for another place.



Up at the back is a Bunsha, who is actually fairly rare and a bit tough to kill. Weak to Fire, she mostly just spams Fire skills. She is a recruitable doppel, but, well, getting her is a minor bit of an exercise in frustration.



MEGA STROKE YES. THANK YOU.



Also we got a super rare material that helps me craft the Exorcism Mantle, which grants resistance to Fire, Water, Electric, Light, Dark, and Mystic. I've never gotten it before, but now I can make it. Nice.



I think this is where that other Barrier Stone has to go.



Now we should be able to grab the other Barrier Stone from the other direction and put it here to do... something?



To be honest I completely forgot half of what I did to solve that puzzle, but some shifting later and we get up to the Waypoint either way. Time to see who's ahead.

Cutscene: The Embodiment of Blizzard and the Child of Miare

Looks like we found Akyuu. She has a habit of finding her way into the final dungeons on her own, doesn't she? Too bad her similarity to Saya combined with, you know, Arare, causes a bit of a problem. Thankfully we're there to intervene. On one hand, we're a lot stronger. On the other hand, so is she, having finally shaken off the effects of the seal Satoru put on her. That's no good, but regardless, we have the Child of Misaki on our side. If she sealed Arare once in a past life, she can do it again. Let's go!



Boss Theme: OUT ~ Embodiment of Blizzard (OUT)

...Yes. Yes it's back. Hachikuma, the legacy of this song carries on, even if it's only used for fighting Arare. Kinda sad but hey, at least OUT has a place.

Anyhow, Arare. She's, as you'd expect, weak to Electric and tries to punch you in the face with Water attacks. So naturally, Water resistance and tilting the Land as far away from Water as possible helps. The fact we got Mega Stroke earlier also helps, since it's more or less the strongest single-target Electric spell in the game for... well, most of it, at least until we can get doppels who learn the fourth tier of spells (but I don't think that's until expansion content). She can also use Element Shelter set to Electric on herself, but of course, we have Yukari with Life or Death Charge. Dispel that crap away and let the damage roll in.




She also has Dance of Hail, which is the typical Strawberry Bose "all-targeting Water attack that usually screws you up bad" attack. I don't think it can inflict Instant Death like with that one octopus boss in GoS or Zhuli in DoD, but it CAN inflict Water Weakness. That isn't good at all. Mind you, if you have a Shivers on, you can like... use Water Wall and block the damage. But look at that Electric Land, that attack isn't going to do crap.

Boss Fight: Vs. Arare Yukidzuki, the Embodiment of Blizzard

First try, first go, whew. This boss generally gives me a lot more trouble than this, but with Mega Stroke and the usual "Kaguya tilts land like crazy" strategy, you can't go wrong.

Cutscene: The Child of Miare and the Child of Misaki

Looks like we scared off Arare for now, and that just leaves dealing with Akyuu. In the sense of her, well, being around, in doppel form, probably about to fade from existence. But hey, this is the same Akyuu who infiltrated the Demon Castle of Chaos and saved our skin after Chloe beat us to near death, and in shikigami form no less. From what I understand, Akyuu and Saya share a connection as the Child of Miare and the Child of Misaki, respectively. I kinda know what that connection is, but I don't think it's touched upon here. Regardless, Akyuu joins our party as another main doppel!

A Priest, and a damn good one too, Akyuu's main passive is always being restored to full health from any healing spell, meaning you can always keep Akyuu alive even with a crappy healer. Otherwise bringing some EVA, RES, and magic casting speed bonuses to the table, she's fairly decent, not necessarily the best Priest, but that's mostly made up with her skill, Gensokyo Origins/Gensokyo Omen (whichever translation you prefer). In DoD, it just blocked out all your weaknesses, but in this game, it raises everyone's resistance to all magical elements, which is REALLY good. This skill is very crucial for keeping your party from getting overly killed by magic of any type, barring Void elemental magic. There's one other special thing about Akyuu, however. Equipping her on anyone just makes them a regular Priest type, as usual. However...



Equipping her on Saya gives Saya the unique class type "Hereafter Are" (Jikon Arei), which grants +1 to all number of hits specifically for Saya, since Akyuu and Saya share a particular connection. No other character has this kind of synergy. Main character powers and all, I guess. That said, we're done here for now. Next time, we'll head deeper into the Castle of Dreams, and finally face the one behind it all: Mo Mengniang.

Summary:

New Doppels: Akyuu (Priest)

Doppel Levels: Tenshi (ACC +3; Kaname Funnel Power +5; ACC +6; Kaname Funnel Power +10), Hell's Gatekeeper (AGI +2), Sorcerer (POT +2), Nashorn (Mega Stroke (!!!), VIT +3), Sakuya (PATK +10), Schwarze Katze (STR +2), Hellhound (STR +2), Mind Flayer (RES +10), Rumia (Weakening Success Rate +20), Shivers (Cold Hand, ◎ Water), Alice (Elemental Guard Skill Casting Speed +25)

Major Equipment: Ashoka's Hammer, Galaxy Amulet, Greataxe, Dream Evil, Meteor Amulet

Synthesis Done: Exorcism Mantle (Mamizou)

Sparked Skills: Zero Fighter (high accuracy attack, Saya), Sweeping Shot (row-targeting attack, Saya), Surprise Gunfire (high casting speed attack, Saya), High Velocity (penetrating attack, Saya), Quickfire (hits 1-5 times, Saya)

Update Death Count: 0
Total Death Count: 3

[Serela]

Huh.

It turns out this game actually has a full Korean translation patch for 2.0.9.

[Validon98]

Huh.

It turns out this game actually has a full Korean translation patch for 2.0.9.

...Huh. I... kinda wish I knew Korean so I could ask the people behind it how they did it. It means it's possible I guess?

[Serela]

I know right? Theoretically, past the language barrier, if they're nice, they'd give away an unpacking tool for an english translation effort.  (This might be a very naive statement. I wouldn't know.) Now, I'm not saying there's any actual initiative to get the game translated in english anyway, but maybe instead of making a spreadsheet, you/me/we/someone/etc could use your basic translation effort in the lp and spreadsheet to make a very basic grade gameplay patch :V (Even solely weapon skill names translated would make things easier, for example!) Is google translate functional enough for an awkward "I'm sorry I don't know korean but I wanted to ask you a question" email?????

By the way, a google translate of the site in question for curiosity's sake or whatnot. It does list the email of what seems to be the person behind the translation. <.< (Before I get smacked by any piracy rules, this download is significantly smaller than even the non-expansion game, so it's only the files necessary for the korean language patch AFAIK.)

But yeah I'll drop the subject unless someone is actively interested in this train of thought.

[Validon98]

We can certainly try to email the creator of the patch in some way, I just don't or think that person would be entirely willing to give us unpacking tools, and neither do I think Google Translate would be sufficient for a quick email. However, if somehow the patch maker was charitable enough to give the tools to allow this to work, I'd completely throw the LP on standby for awhile if it meant I could work on a gameplay patch. As for I'd ask him, it'd probably go as follows (in English, if ANYONE can translate it into Korean it would be so helpful).

Pocoman10,

Hello there, I found out recently that you were able to translate Touhou Genmuyoutan ~ The Nightmare of Rebellion into Korean. We've been trying to figure out how to do the same for English, but no one has been able to figure out how to open up the files. If you were able to make a Korean patch, then an English patch is also possible. It is rather rude to ask this, but could you provide the tools you used to open up the .TARC files and edit the files within? That's all, the work of translation and the work of making the patch will be on our shoulders. I understand if asking for those tools is offensive and you might not want to, but we would appreciate any help you could give.

Validon98

[Serela]

Yeah, I recall translators generally not wanting to give out their unpacking tools, which is pretty understandable! But maybe for the sake of another region's translation, it's at least worth an ask. I can think of a couple people (on and off motk) that I know who I think know Korean, I'll ask 'em if they wouldn't be too bothered (or if they uh, actually do know it in the first place)

[Validon98]

That'd be appreciated. X_X;
That said, I'm going to try to quickly get the next update uploaded now before I get called away for the rest of the day, since I have it mostly prepared and all. Just need to get the videos on Youtube and whatnot.

[Validon98]

Just the idea that an English patch is in the realm of possibility is exciting, but at the same time I shouldn't get my hopes up too much.

Dream-Eating Tapir Act: Finale- A Never-Before-Seen World of Dreams

I preferred "A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before" to the current translation, to be honest.



Our first thing we see back in the Castle of Dreams is... another hallway. Left or right, left or right?



Either way, we run into Raijins, one of the only things we will run into here. As you'd think, they love their Electric attacks, meaning also that Fire (and surprisingly, Light) will take them down. I think Slash might also as well? I think they're Giants, so that would make sense. Key word is "would".



What's that odd orb there?



Well, flipping it on makes it glow with the kanji for "dream" inside. I guess that's all we can do, so let's head back.



...And doing so throws us... here? This is a Blue Door Area, why are we here?



Crossing through that area leads back to another part of the Castle of Dreams. More or less, turning these orbs on will let us travel to different areas via Blue Door Areas unique to this place. Unlike prior Blue Door Areas, these ones are part of the dungeon, so the enemies aren't harder or anything. Looks like this place has a strong connection to those Blue Doors, but why?



Oh nice, we got a Lesser Demon in one of the Blue Door Area places. Much like the Power, it's heavily weak to Light and strong against Dark, and will learn some really good Dark spells. Make use of them!



There's a Barrier Stone puzzle mixed in with the whole Blue Door Area nonsense, but it's easier than the last one. The main difficulty is figuring out how to make good use of the passages in the Blue Door Area and figuring where they connect to.



The only other new enemy we see here is the Izanami up top. Huh, thought she'd be rotting, but she looks pretty still, so I dunno what Izanagi's problem was. Anyhow, they're weak to Light and Stab. She can also be recruited, and is way better than the Lesser Demon, but I miss her. And I miss the rare enemy here that I never ran into. I'll try going back and see if I can't pick one or two of them up.



Oh boy a three way place.



We also get a Cockatrice. You can probably guess what kind of skills it gives you. Do I even have to bother?



The Waypoint's right there, but the dais is blocking the way. Damn you dais Saya refuses to climb over!



Oh nice, we can finally craft all the elemental shards and one other material. That'll be helpful for the future, trust me.



And we make it over here after a lot of messing around. It's finally time.

Cutscene: The Dream-Eating Youkai that Oversees Reality

A... lot happens in this cutscene before we take on Mengniang. First things first, we find Tomoko, so she's still okay. Second, we learn that she is a baku (or tapir, whichever term you prefer), a denizen of the Dream World, with the ability to eat and manipulate dreams. Reminder that Nightmare of Rebellion came out way before Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, so Strawberry Bose called it being canon, more or less, even if they didn't mean to. It's kinda funny how everything presented about dreams and the Dream World could fit easily within the canon explanations behind it. Makes me wonder if Mengniang would know Doremy and such. Regardless, she reveals that the true power behind this incident isn't necessarily the doppels, or the tanukis. It's all a result of using the power of dreams and the Dream World to manipulate Toono in such a way to give the local youkai more power. It's also why there're things that don't belong in Toono appearing here and there. By connecting the locale with the Dream World, youkai are becoming more powerful, but things are coming into reality that don't belong here. If this keeps up, Toono will be entirely transformed into a realm of fantasy. Of course, that's where we come in, to stop Mengniang from causing this transformation, and to put everything back to normal. Not to mention, this whole incident is occurring 100 years in the past. If this happens, wouldn't the future change too? Toono in the present is a completely normal place, not to mention Gensokyo's right on top of the region. If the doppels were also produced by manipulating history through dreams, then Gensokyo would be in the hands of a completely alternate version of everyone we know. To save Gensokyo, and to save Toono, we have to put a stop to this here and now.



Boss Theme: Battle Against the Dream-Eating Tapir (Child of Are)

Here we go... the battle against Mengniang. This fight is not easy, in fact it's probably one of the top three hardest fights in the game. She will spam Bow-type attacks at you, mostly ones that inflict Sleep, can hit the whole party with a spellcard that inflicts Sleep, can use a spellcard that inflicts Instant Death against one person, with an almost guarenteed chance if they're inflicted with Sleep, and has a very powerful skill, Bakuki Veda, which is not only INCREDIBLY powerful, but also can inflict Sleep. On top of that, she can buff herself, and use spells of every element, particularly those the Land is tilted towards. You can take advantage of that by shifting the Land in a direction that you have heavy resistance to. Gensokyo's Origins and Akyuu as a whole is highly recommended for this fight. Keep yourself alive, keep yourself fighting, because this fight is brutal.



The first shot was a no-go, though I survived fairly long. Second shot, however...

Boss Fight: Vs. Mo Mengniang, the Dream-Eating Youkai that Oversees Reality

...I get it on the second try. This is the least number of attempts I've ever had to take against her, in the three times I've fought her across my playthroughs. Dear god this fight is a nightmare, but I suppose that is the point.

Cutscene: The Mastermind of the Incident...?

...And so, we discover that despite taking Mengniang down, the incident isn't over. Her power is entirely responsible for everything... but this wasn't her idea. The true mastermind lies elsewhere, and meanwhile, Mengniang escapes. Tomoko's finally been rescued, but Saya sends her off, saying that right now, saving Toono and finding the true mastermind comes first. We don't have many leads right now, and in fact, we don't even know where else to go. The only pathways we've yet to explore are the one north of the Castle of Dreams, and that one that's experiencing heavy snowstorms way back over by Enjo School, but that path is still blocked for the time being. Looks like we'll have to head north of the Castle of Dreams. Next time, we begin our search anew for the one who is really behind it all, in the next act: Youkai of Toono.

Summary:

New Doppels: Lesser Demon (Spiritualist), Cockatrice (Saboteur)

Doppel Levels: Akyuu (Magic Casting Speed +3; RES +5; Magic Casting Speed +5; EVA +5), Sunflower Fairy (Aiming; ○ Paralysis, Quick; VIT +1; Alignment Shelter), Togakusha Kureha (STR +6), Lesser Demon (Dark Lure, Dark Land Regen (10); Dark Hand, STR +1; Darkness, Dark Land Regen (15)), Power (VIT +1), Jason (STR +1), Closed Railroad Crossing (Roar, RES +6), Yoshika (Magic Null 20), Nazrin (Defensive Support Casting Speed +5; Single-target Defensive Support Level +24%)

Major Equipment: Aurora Amulet, Jarnsaxa, DVD-ROM, High Magic Rod, Fairy Bloomers, Cockatrice Crest, Slaughter Dart, Lunae Noctis (Saya), King of Beasts (Yukari)

Synthesis Recipes: Elemental shards and another material

Synthesis Done: Barrier Earrings +1 (Reimu)

Sparked Skills: Thunder Break (Electric elemental attack, Reimu)

Update Death Count: 1
Total Death Count: 4

...Whew. I still can't believe how that fight ended up going. That was the most anime fight I've had in a Strawberry Bose game... probably ever.

[Dormio Ergo Sum]

Pocoman10,

Hello there, I found out recently that you were able to translate Touhou Genmuyoutan ~ The Nightmare of Rebellion into Korean. We've been trying to figure out how to do the same for English, but no one has been able to figure out how to open up the files. If you were able to make a Korean patch, then an English patch is also possible. It is rather rude to ask this, but could you provide the tools you used to open up the .TARC files and edit the files within? That's all, the work of translation and the work of making the patch will be on our shoulders. I understand if asking for those tools is offensive and you might not want to, but we would appreciate any help you could give.

Validon98

안녕하세요, 내가 얼마전에 당신이 東方玄夢妖譚 ～ The Nightmare of Rebellion를 한글어로 변역한거를 봐서 연락을 하고있어요. 우리도 이게임을 영어로 변역하고싶은대, 우리는 아직 파일을 여는방법을 찾을수없었습니다. 당신이 한글패치를 만들수있었으면, 영어패치도 가능할겄같은대 우리는 어떻게 할지를 몰라요. 미얀하지만, 혹시라도 당신이 .TARC 파일을 열기위해 사용하신 프로그램을 우리한테 보내줄수있으새요? 변역이나 패치만들는것은 당연히 우리가 혼자서하죠. 당신이 사용하신 프로그램을 우리한테 보내기 싫으면 당연히 이해자죠, 하지만 도와줄수있으면 너무 감사하갰습니다.

[Serela]

Dormio is the best <3

[Validon98]

Thank you very kindly, Dormio. Sending out the email now, here's hoping I get a response. X_X;

[Serela]

Man, I just watched the bossfight, and Suika's damage is absolutely crazeballs. Not that it ever wasn't, but... is that all just Suika being Suika, or does Saya's equipment/other doppels have somenthing to do with it, aka she's just the person you've loaded all your P.Atk/Str ups on? She puts everyone else to shame even with attacks other than giant suika tackle.

[Validon98]

Yeah, Saya was who I dumped all my PATK stuff on, not to mention she's using the Uncompromising Flail, which naturally has high PATK as a Blunt weapon. Crazy Undine gives some fairly high STR bonuses, not to mention getting a crit on Missing Purple Power means all hits connect and deal double damage. Combine that with Kasen's Dragon Power, which boosts the power of the next attack, and it can get pretty ridiculous.

[Validon98]

It's incredibly early in the morning to be posting this, but I finally got a response back from the guy.

初めまして。
 
東方玄夢妖譚の翻訳を手伝ったカインラピスともうします。
Erik Gundersonさんの連絡はもらいました。
私は英語が出来ませんので日本語で失礼します。
 
東方玄夢妖譚の翻訳で力になりたいとは思うのですが、
残念ながら、私は一人の翻訳者として参加しただけで
TARCファイルの解凍方法は知らない状況です。
 
ただ、その時、解凍プログラムを作った方のメールは知っておりますので、
そちらのメールアドレスで連絡を取ったほうが早いと思います。
 
==================メールアドレス===================
＊マンマミーア(chlehd0509@naver.com)
================================================
 
以上となります。
良い返事がもらえるよう、こちらからも応援します。

Long story short, he just did some of the translations, but he provided the email of the guy who did work on the tools, and I think he wished me luck on getting help from the person who made the decompression program. Well, at least we've got some semblance of support from one of the translators!

EDIT: Might as well get the ball rolling on this, since I'm not exactly great at writing in Korean or Japanese, but uh... if Dormio or someone else would be so kind as to help translate another message for me to send, it'd be appreciated. *wishes he knew how to write in Japanese and/or Korean better than he does*

Thank you very much for the help and support, and good luck to you on any other projects you might work on in the future.

That's for pocoman10, just to give him a note of thanks.

chlehd0509

Hello, my name is Validon98 (Erik Gunderson), and I've been attempting to translate Touhou Genmuyoutan ~ The Nightmare of Rebellion into English. While the translation effort itself is no issue, there is the problem of opening up the .TARC files, something I've been unable to do with the tools previously developed for translating Touhou Soujinengi ~ The Genius of Sappheiros and Touhou Gensoumaroku ~ The Devil of Decline, due to the .TARC file type and the .pak file type being completely different. I've heard you were able to crack open the .TARC files for a Korean patch for Nightmare of Rebellion. I know it is very rude to ask someone for their tools if they are not publicly shared, but our efforts are at a deadlock, and we need help. If you still have the tools you used for making the Korean patch, could you please share those with me so I can attempt to work on an English patch? I understand if the answer is no, and I'll appreciate a response either way. Thank you.

Validon

And that's for, well, chlehd0509.

[Serela]

Something about an english speaker sending an email in korean and getting a response in japanese is amusing to me. I could PM Dormio again if he would translate the next email, although- technically isn't it just the same as the first email with slightly different wording? I feel somewhat guilty asking Dormio multiple times since he isn't actually interested in these games AFAIK >.> (This is my way of also asking to not be the third party, I guess XD; he very well may not be checking in on the thread to see how the email went and it's not entirely impossible we'd need a third email, so you may wish to PM him yourself.)

[Validon98]

Right right, that's totally fair, I'll PM Dormio in a moment and ask him myself. I do find it funny about that, though I suppose since the guy was translating a Japanese game into Korean, he's bilingual in both. And meanwhile I still struggle with Japanese despite being exposed to it for like three years. How I even consider myself good enough to translate basic gameplay information, I dunno.

Also, there is an update coming. I was going to finish writing it up last night... and then I passed out. Oops. To be fair, the second half of the game is the usual "hey difficulty spike" part, so updates might come out sliiightly less often. It'll be worse in the postgame, trust me, the difficulty is one hell of a spike compared to the postgame of, say, Devil of Decline (not Genius of Sappheiros because starting with only Reimu and Lithos is kinda brutal).

[Serela]

Translating skill names/effects and passive effects is way easier than translating whole sentences. (Especially as effects have much more limited vocabularies >.>) Even google translate is mostly sufficient for those, when copy-pasting is an option.

Losing your party in GoS Ex was neat, it changed things up for a bit. <3 Plus it meant you got to do boss fights with several of them.

[Your Everyday NEET]

At least Lithos' level scales with everyone's level instead of starting at level 1. It'll be a massive pain if we had to level her with only 2 person. Wanna talk brutal? Gorgon sisters would like to say hello. The first few bosses at least can be beaten with brute forces alone, plus it's a load of fun using final boss' skills against them.

[Validon98]

Oh god yeah, if Lithos started at level 1, that would be ridiculous. Strawberry Bose had some very odd and bad ideas for GoS (yellow text items I'm looking at you), but at least making her level not 1 at first when you otherwise only had Reimu is a relief. Kinda sad that wasn't carried over to DoD, but I suppose in that case you could level Angra with four other members of your endgame party easily, the same with Mima if you wanted to use her (despite having half the expansion still to go so her use is even more limited than Angra).

Update's almost ready, by the way, just need to get one cutscene uploaded and it's more or less good to go.

[Serela]

Angra isn't so bad off, but Mima, ugh. Their level up stat gain is heavily loaded to the front end so their stats catch up fairly fast, but Mima is just... dang she comes late, she won't -really- catch up until the final boss of postgame. Plus at least Angra has an amazing last word, Mima's is a physical last word on a very clearly spellcaster character- ontop of joining so late her weapon levels are going to be awful.

My main other issue with DoD is like... hitting lv97 grinding final area for a long time and you're still hours upon hours away from even getting close to sparking a -single- skill from the last tier of weapon skills- much less any of the others from that tier.

[Validon98]

Oh god yeah no, the last tier of weapon skills is impossible to get, and Mima has a godawful Last Word for her type, but I guess you can experiment around that. I remember watching a little of ChefMKT taking on Shinki (I think the strongest form of Shinki too), and seeing Patchouli with Chaotic Flowerfall (AKA Full Moon Revenge) kinda made me a little jealous. Also, I find it weird that all the mages got the really nice weapon skills, but I guess that's why they're defined as type 4s.

Also, might as well throw the text of my update below anyhow so I don't need to double post. :V

Youkai of Toono Act: Part 1- Comb the Desert

So, last time, we went up against Mengniang and found out that she's... well, both responsible for the incident yet isn't the true mastermind.



So we're going to go up through this path now that Yukari stopped us before at.



Which leads to... another section of the Great Wall of China. Transitory areas!



Armor armor armor.



And another tier of the stat boosters. There's no new enemies here, just ones we've ran into before at the Castle of Dreams, and the Great Wall of China section isn't too big. However, once we leave...

Cutscene: Toono's Desert

...So uh... welcome to basically Egypt. Man, the power of dreams is even altering the landscape itself. Hopefully the rest of Toono isn't getting messed up too much. There's also...



...Some Pyramids in the back, as we see in the cutscene. It's as good a place to investigate as any, so let's go!



Dungeon Theme: Desert of Heat Rays and Intense Cold (Greenwich in the Sky)

Here's our Waypoint for the beginning of the Desert.



It's right in the north part of Toono, huh? Looks like we're going to go up and around to the east if we continue exploring. We're clearing up a lot of the world map now.



Battle Theme: Toono Dance 2

Completely new battle theme for the second half of the game. Compared to Genius of Sappheiros' second battle theme, I think I like this one more. I dunno.

Anyhow, new enemies here. Up top is an Intermediate Fairy Warrior, who is more or less just a straight upgrade from all those other types of enemies. Down below is a Sidewinder, who can poison you pretty harshly.



Up top is a Draught, who is fairly tough to fight. Weak to just Light, despite what you'd think based of of his appearance as a floating fireball with a face. Haha. Down below is a Toono Cactus. Who uh... is weak to Fire and otherwise I don't think he's overly dangerous.



Moudoku-san up top, Red Skeleton below. Moudoku-san is, like Toono-san, going to try poisoning you. Over and over. Electric I believe is the way to go there. The Red Skeleton is otherwise just going to try beating you upside the head with Strike attacks. Strike, Fire, or Light will rid you of it easily.



Oh hey, this part of the Desert has no map and has a few wraparound sections. I remember when I first saw some teaser stuff for NoR that I thought the Desert was actually Makai, and that it would tie in a little more with Devil of Decline. How wrong I was, though I suppose they do reference DoD given how similar the doppel state is to the shikigami state.



The Intermediate Fairy Maid up top can be a real pain. She knows all the tier two single-target elemental spells. Those usually hurt us really badly and can easily one-shot us without any form of MDEF. Take them out very quick to avoid unneeded death.



That scorpion looking thing is a Deathbringer, whose attacks inflict a VERY mean Poison. It can do like... roughly 200 damage per turn at a point in the game where breaking 250 HP is lucky? Water takes it down, and you want it down FAST.



Pyramid's north, but let's go west.



To the west is another Waypoint and another Great Wall of China section. That leads to another dungeon, but we'll handle that after we deal with the Pyramid.



Niiiice, another number of hits level. All of our 5s now go to 6s (and in the case of Saya with Akyuu, all 6s go to 7s), making us even more effective at our best abilities.



Huh, a red door? I thought all those doors before were blue.



Not quiiite sure what this says, but I think maybe these doors don't necessarily connect to Gensokyo like the Blue Doors did, so there won't be any doppels inside. Regardless, let's go in, it can't be that bad, right?



From here on out, the game labels all Blue Door Areas and Red Door Areas as the "Dream Corridor", and I'll be referring to these areas as such from now on. Makes sense, these doors must lead to the Dream World, and it's how Toono and Gensokyo have been connected. Anyhow, red door Dream Corridor areas don't have any gaps with doppels inside, just treasure and tough enemies, and these are the only form of door we'll be seeing for the rest of the game. These are practically bonus mini-dungeons at this rate, but they can contain Power Extensions, Recipes, and rare materials. Explore them just as you would with the blue door Dream Corridors. I back out quickly after this to go ahead and find one last Waypoint.




There we go, we got the Pyramid's Waypoint. There's quite a bit left in Toono to explore, but we're going to explore this Pyramid too.



There's a sneaky Dream Corridor over here too. We'll do both this one and the one in the main part of the Desert and call the update there.



Inside the first one are some Yegouzis, who are... I guess there. I believe they can use attacks like Fang Crush but they are fairly weak to Fire and Light, so they kinda die before they're a real threat.



Yaaaay Power Extension.



The Red Volnehem is yet another one of the Volnehem group. This time its going to use a lot of Fire attacks, which can be verry dangerous. Weak to Water and otherwise can only reasonably be hit by Strike attacks as usual.



The Desert Soul up top is... not really a threat. Just hit it with Water or Light and let it die.



Even more recipes. I think this is the most amount of recipes I've gotten up to now.



ZERO KELVIN GET.



Back in the Dream Corridor over near the entrance to the Pyramid, we have Bloodhounds. Basically more powerful Hellhounds, they can murder you fairly badly with Fire attacks, so be quick on countering with the Water attacks.



Ohhhh god, an Iron Turtle. He's pretty damn bulky, physical attacks more or less do nothing to him other than Strike attacks and Water attacks. Thankfully we just got Zero Kelvin, so that'll help. Otherwise, he'll use a bunch of shielding skills and be a general pain in the ass.



The last new enemy for today is a Horned Devil, which is a more powerful Gargoyle who I believe can also use some Fire attacks. Weak to Water as usual and otherwise nearly immune to physical attacks that aren't Strike elemental. In a way, they're just stronger Red Volnehems. Be wary of them.

After this point, I had explored everywhere. No deaths, no problems, but I decided to go back into the first Dream Corridor to hunt Izanamis for doppel recruitment.




...I got wiped twice for my troubles and just gave up, remembering that the expansion added a new doppel that more or less replaces the Izanami anyhow and gets some of the same attacks, so eyy, we'll get that doppel instead later. Next time most likely too, since it's an enemy in the Pyramid. Speaking of, next time, we'll head into the Pyramid and see what awaits us there.

Summary:

Doppel Levels: Succubus (Ether, Variety Effect Casting Speed +7), Remilia (EVA +25), Lesser Demon (Physical Barrier 5%, Magical Barrier 5%, or in other words, Divine Barrier 5%), Flandre (Fire Power +5), Ame-no-Hoakari (INT +2), Miko (HP +5; Magic Null 15), Hell's Gatekeeper (Zero Kelvin, INT +2), Patchouli (FIR/ELE/WTR Power +20), Utsuho (LGT/DRK/MYS Skill Casting Speed +15), Sorcerer (Fire Power +3), Youmu (Certain Hit +10), Komachi (IND +15), Succubus (◎ Charm)

Major Equipment: Springflut Guarder (Reimu), Non-Disclosure, Violent Epsilon, Rune Staff (Mamizou), Lentis Bipennis, Guardian Sword, Darkness Bow

Synthesis Recipes: Crimson Robe, Firesnow Mantle, Maelstrom Mantle, Volcanic Mantle, Royal Leather, Magical Capper, Beast Scale, Large Armor, Southeast Asian Armor, Tight-Sleeved Armor, Mana Stone, Skill Stone, Strength Necklace +2, Keen Pendant +2, Protection Anklet +2, Barrier Earrings +2, Sniper Anklet +2, Keep-away Muffler +2, Launch Goggles +2, Perseverance Rosary +2, Gale Boots +2, Muscle Belt +2, Magic Ring +2, Star Ocean Ring, Reckless Robe, Jet Black Robe, Sanctus Dress, Malum Dress, Aquascutum Trenchcoat, Ninja Costume, Hermit Kitsune Armor, Transcended One's Armor, Oni Armor, Plate Armor, Silver Plate Mail, Fairy Lingerie, Cowardice Drawers, Surprise Attack Baby Doll, Super Sexy Underwear, Cockatrice Crown, Basilisk Eye

Synthesis Done: Tight-Sleeved Armor (Reimu), Launch Goggles +1, Perseverance Rosary +1, Muscle Belt +1 (Mamizou)

Sparked Skills: Tenacious Edge (penetrating skill that increases status effect duration by one turn, Reimu), Law of the Evil (attack that temporarily inflicts All Down, Yukari), Sweep Gunfire (row-targeting attack, Saya), Sea Hurricane (single-target attack, Saya), Slate Maruader (penetrating attack that inflicts Stun, Yukari)

Update Death Count: 2
Total Death Count: 6

AND SO THE PARTY WIPE COUNT GOES UP BY 1.5 TIMES DUE TO IDIOCY.

EDIT: Oh, and I just tested while beginning work on screenshotting, but equipping a second rod does not apply a second damage bonus. I used Zero Kelvin on a Deathbringer with one rod equipped and with two rods equipped, and both times I dealt about 3800 damage. Slightly more on the second hit, but that could have been damage variance. Mind you, that's just from the innate magic damage bonus rods give. If you enchanted the second rod with Attack Magic Damage Up enchantments, it would apply because enchantments are an overall buff (the same would happen if you dual-wielded weapons and put an ACC or PATK buff on the off hand weapon, the enchantments will also apply to the main hand weapon).

[Dormio Ergo Sum]

Thank you very much for the help and support, and good luck to you on any other projects you might work on in the future.

도움을 주셔서 감사합니다. 미래에 하는일에 행운을 빕니다.

Hello, my name is Validon98 (Erik Gunderson), and I've been attempting to translate Touhou Genmuyoutan ~ The Nightmare of Rebellion into English. While the translation effort itself is no issue, there is the problem of opening up the .TARC files, something I've been unable to do with the tools previously developed for translating Touhou Soujinengi ~ The Genius of Sappheiros and Touhou Gensoumaroku ~ The Devil of Decline, due to the .TARC file type and the .pak file type being completely different. I've heard you were able to crack open the .TARC files for a Korean patch for Nightmare of Rebellion. I know it is very rude to ask someone for their tools if they are not publicly shared, but our efforts are at a deadlock, and we need help. If you still have the tools you used for making the Korean patch, could you please share those with me so I can attempt to work on an English patch? I understand if the answer is no, and I'll appreciate a response either way. Thank you.

안녕하새요, 내이름은 Validon98 (Erik Gunderson)입니다. 제가 東方玄夢妖譚 ～ The Nightmare of Rebellion 를영어로 변역하는중인대요 문재가생겄습니다. 일본어에서 영어로 변역하는대 문제가없지만 .TARC 파일들을 못열어서 어떻개 할줄을몰릅니다. 전에 東方蒼神縁起 ～ The Genius of Sappheiros 랑 東方幻想魔録 ～ Devil of Decline 를 변역했는대 그게임들은 .TARC 대신 .pak 파일들을써서 전에쓰던프로그램를 더이상 사용할수없어서 새로운 프로그램을 찾고있었습니다. 찾을동안 제가 당신이 한글패치를위해 .TARC 파일들을 열는방법을찾았다고 들었습니다. 미얀하지만 혹시라도 당신이 사용하신 프로그램을 저한태 보내주던가 이름을알려줄수있는 가능성이있나요? 싫으면 당연히 이해를하죠, 하지만 도와줄수있으면 너무감사하갰습니다.