You're locked once you switch style, to my knowledge.
Let's Sperg Touhoumon (Screenshot LP) - Please Wait Warmly - Yet Another Pokémon Let's Sperg
- Thread starter Penne Dreadful
- Start date
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Sister services, email, and search will continue to be negatively effected by the attacks. I made a thread to talk about it, if you're into networking.
With no strict conclusion, I flipped a coin between Assist and Power Cirno and it came up tails. Looks like Baka will be the strongest.
This gets her access to a laundry list of new skills to consider.
Having decided on a style, I also finally distribute EVs. Baka has more than enough PP saved up to max out everything instantly, helped by the cap being much lower than in the actual games.
This is her second option for an ability; I'll try out the +50% FoAtk -20% Acc for a while and see if I dislike missing enough to go for even more speed.
I also grab Aqua Javelin, for even more damage.
After stocking up on a small amount of food for a normal person, it's time for MC-kun to head out into the world again.
First things first, there's someone we have to catch. I was told that I missed Rinnosuke spawning in this pot and, sure enough, he's there.
He's absolutely no match for Baka.
We've known from the start that Rinnosuke would be a bro, but there's only one suitable candidate for MC-kun.
Our trend of getting more focused attackers continues. Rinnosuke has a solid IV and nature buffing that, even.
We replace Mamizou with Chip; it's either her or Alice and I feel that the latter has more she can currently offer us.
With that, it's time to return to the task at hand.
Shortly after he enters the forest, a rabbit runs into MC-kun, almost knocking him off his bike.
She dumps some exposition at MC-kun then takes her leave.
We quickly find out both why this is the forest of the lost and encounter our first trainer of the area.
Unsurprisingly, she leads with Tewi.
It's a job for Kisume. She takes a very-impressive looking attack.
But it doesn't do much to her and Tewi swiftly falls. A second copy takes her place and the fight plays out identically.
MC-kun's genius intellect catches on to the area's gimmick. Heading north or south takes him to the other side of the same room; heading west goes back and east is somewhere new.
Sure enough, the bamboo shoots and tall grass are different.
I miss the pre-battle dialogue on the rabbit here; she screams "Get out! Get out!"
Seiran isn't Tewi. We're getting closer to the moon.
She still falls to Kisume and gets replaced by Ringo. Another Puppet weak to Kisume, who quickly cleans house.
No-one will stop MC-kun now that he's encountering lunar rabbits.
Nue also picks up her final pre-evolution skill from levelling.
Heading south yields another new screen, another battle and another new rabbit Puppet.
Nue gives it a shot. Both she and Udonge are Illusion types, which is super-effective against itself.
Her passive does some work after Udonge gets confused when hitting with a focused move. Keine switches in to finish the job, however.
Heading west from there, MC-kun finds a house: a potential answer. It seems a bit small to be Eientei.
No-one's home.
At this point, I'll spare you the details. I wander about the forest, keeping track of which directions work, until finding a new path forward.
Sure enough, she has a Tewi. Kisume handles it.
MC-kun wonders if he's fit to challenge someone named Mao. He reassures himself that it isn't the Chairman.
She's got yet another moon rabbit, Reisen II, the replacement to Udonge after she escaped her old owners. MC-kun, of course, disapproves of attempts to escape lunar purity.
She's got two copies of Rei'sen, it turns out, and Kisume defeats both.
We're not the only lost ones, however.
South of that, we find some shrubbery blocking the path. Foiled.
To the west, though, another encounter.
I let Baka handle her Udonge this time, which she does in a single hit.
MC-kun is always in perfect form.
One room away, we find what must be Eientei, as we're confronted by both Tewi and Reisen.
I note down the paths we've found, because I'm sure they'll come up eventually:
House: East, South, West.
Trees: East, South, North, West, South.
Eientei: East, South, North, West, West, North.
MC-kun isn't sure he trusts Tewi, especially after she just ran off earlier.
The best.
You'd better believe it, friendo.
With that, it's time to fight.
Tewi leads with herself. Keine handles her, but not without taking some substantial damage.
Next up is Udonge, against whom Keine gets to shine properly.
It takes two attacks, but it's soon over.
Last up is another, higher-levelled Tewi. I send in a 29hp Kisume to attempt to close out the fight.
She's more than a match, but Tewi holds on with a sliver of HP. With that, it's over.
Weren't you supposed to show me around?
Cursing the perfidy of earth rabbits, MC-kun heads toward Eientei proper.
It's another area with blue grass, presumably to distinguish a different pool of catches.
Wandering about Eientei, MC-kun immediately stumbles into Eirin's office and advances the plot.
She doesn't give MC-kun a moment to rest.
With that, it's time to fight, again. We've progressed from earth rabbits to a former moon rabbit, at least.
She opens with Seiran, who Kisume quickly defeats.
Next up, she pivots to herself, presumably her ace. At level 24, we're seeing enemies spike up very quickly after a previously gradual crawl. Keine switches in to tank.
Keine manages to win on the back of a crit and so Udonge is finished.
Last up is Ringo, back at level 20. Nue gets a chance to fight.
She accomplishes very little, despite a super-effective attack. Taking three hits from the first multi-hit attack and four from the second, she quickly flees. At least she confused Ringo in the process.
Alice switches in and, as confusion does nothing, outspeeds Ringo to get the kill. It's a lot of XP for everyone but Chip.
MC-kun is fully aware that he's amazing.
MC-kun wonders which he should stop. His experience with the Crown Prince involved fighting royalty; will he have to stare down the NEET Princess too?
Eirin doesn't specify. She says this and then leaves.
Udonge gives us a full heal, then it's time to proceed.
At this point, it's time to explore Eientei. There are some earth rabbits wandering about. The open house doesn't sound like a gloomy shed, so perhaps it was beyond the trees we couldn't cut.
There's also loot to be had.
All of the pots seem empty, but there are some food supplies to be stolen. MC-kun is always hungry.
Soon enough, MC-kun tracks down Eirin, if only by the noise.
The Puppets - Keine and Eirin - jump at one another.
At least we know who to fight now.
With that, MC-kun heads to Mokou, as Eirin walks over to Kaguya. The talking sprites quite obscure her side of the fracas.
Mokou speaks some bold words.
Then it's time to fight.
She opens with a level 26 Keine and suddenly I'm not nearly as overlevelled as I was at the start of this episode.
It's Baka's time to shine, but only after eating some chip damage from Raid.
Keine falls in one hit.
Next up is Sumireko. We let Kisume deal with her.
There's only one level's gap and it quickly descends into a vicious brawl.
Mokou switches out Sumireko to dodge what would likely have been the killing blow and now, possibly for the first time in this LP, I'm the one at a level disadvantage.
That's quickly reverse as Baka switches in for the type advantage and hits Mokou with her ludicrous cheat power.
Mokou has one last trick up her sleeve, however: on death, she inflicts a heavy blow to Baka.
Keine attempts to finish the job, but is unsuccessful as I get greedy.
Kisume rejoins the fray and does enough to claim the win.
Mokou is gracious in defeat, takes her Keine puppet and leaves.
Kaguya is not happy about that.
Eirin prevents it from going to further fighting, however.
Give me your axe. I want to murder some obsoletes engage in deforestation.
It turns out that a doll cuts down trees, not an axe. MC-kun's fantasies are left on the back-burner for the time being.
With that, the conversation is mostly over.
But what about me, the important one?
MC-kun has kept records and doesn't think he'll need a rabbit's instructions.
MC-kun returns to Eirin's office for some healing and finds Tewi. She's apparently stuck with the manual labour of tidying up after the fight. MC-kun hasn't tidied a thing in his life.
Udonge says something that is almost certainly foreshadowing but which I'm also pretty sure is canonically wrong. It's been a while since I read Silent Sinner in Blue, but I recall her arriving as a shooting star using a lunar veil initially and not using the dream world, although she does mention that it is a known route in 2hu 15.
Autism aside, we check on Kaguya.
She's not feeling belligerent any more.
Before heading towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion, we try out the doll on the shrubbery in the bamboo forest from earlier.
I wonder if this could possibly have anything to do with Reisen's mention of the passage through the dream world earlier.
It doesn't matter, though. Eirin was too busy cleaning to give us any drugs.
By the shack, we find another TM. A nice one.
A promising name for this zone.
Maybe we won't need drugs for Eientei. We can take our own pills, found lying on the ground in the Hut of Insanity.
The rabbit outside warned him about his dreams becoming real within the shack, but he pays no heed. He devours the pill as if it were food.
Only to wake up in space.
Space apparently has wild Puppet encounters. After a stupid number of attempts, Doremy is caught.
Your fun youkai fact of the day is that, like Drowzee, Munna and Musharna, her design evokes a tapir, since they were believed to eat dreams.
The expansion was supposed to cover 2hu 15 and I'd not be surprised if I've wandered into its designated zone. I don't bother with Clownpiece, but she's another common encounter.
MC-kun is filled with thoughts of wheat as he passes the moon.
He then encounters a gate.
As he approaches it, he's confronted by some lady holding an egg. He's not sure from where she'd recognise him.
He's not to be dissuaded, however.
With that, it's time to fight the so-called Ruler of Dreams in her own territory.
She leads with Sagume. Keine is a strong defensive counter, so we send her in.
After the first whiff, Sagume at least accomplishes a little as Keine chips her down.
She then switches to herself, with Kisume taking the baton to fight.
She eventually claims her victory.
The XP gets Keine to style-change level.
MC-kun realises that he might be about to accomplish one of his life's greatest dreams.
You'd better believe it, friendo.
Next episode, MC-kun's bad trip will continue as we engage in the grand quest for moon wheat. I'll also showcase our Doremy's stats once I can check them at a box, but she likely won't be all that useful to us if I take Extra Rinnosuke as a Dream type.
These are Keine's options. I'm still undecided; all seem pretty neat.
This gets her access to a laundry list of new skills to consider.
Having decided on a style, I also finally distribute EVs. Baka has more than enough PP saved up to max out everything instantly, helped by the cap being much lower than in the actual games.
This is her second option for an ability; I'll try out the +50% FoAtk -20% Acc for a while and see if I dislike missing enough to go for even more speed.
I also grab Aqua Javelin, for even more damage.
After stocking up on a small amount of food for a normal person, it's time for MC-kun to head out into the world again.
First things first, there's someone we have to catch. I was told that I missed Rinnosuke spawning in this pot and, sure enough, he's there.
He's absolutely no match for Baka.
We've known from the start that Rinnosuke would be a bro, but there's only one suitable candidate for MC-kun.
Our trend of getting more focused attackers continues. Rinnosuke has a solid IV and nature buffing that, even.
With that, it's time to return to the task at hand.
Shortly after he enters the forest, a rabbit runs into MC-kun, almost knocking him off his bike.
She dumps some exposition at MC-kun then takes her leave.
We quickly find out both why this is the forest of the lost and encounter our first trainer of the area.
Unsurprisingly, she leads with Tewi.
It's a job for Kisume. She takes a very-impressive looking attack.
But it doesn't do much to her and Tewi swiftly falls. A second copy takes her place and the fight plays out identically.
MC-kun's genius intellect catches on to the area's gimmick. Heading north or south takes him to the other side of the same room; heading west goes back and east is somewhere new.
Sure enough, the bamboo shoots and tall grass are different.
I miss the pre-battle dialogue on the rabbit here; she screams "Get out! Get out!"
Seiran isn't Tewi. We're getting closer to the moon.
She still falls to Kisume and gets replaced by Ringo. Another Puppet weak to Kisume, who quickly cleans house.
No-one will stop MC-kun now that he's encountering lunar rabbits.
Nue also picks up her final pre-evolution skill from levelling.
Heading south yields another new screen, another battle and another new rabbit Puppet.
Nue gives it a shot. Both she and Udonge are Illusion types, which is super-effective against itself.
Her passive does some work after Udonge gets confused when hitting with a focused move. Keine switches in to finish the job, however.
Heading west from there, MC-kun finds a house: a potential answer. It seems a bit small to be Eientei.
No-one's home.
At this point, I'll spare you the details. I wander about the forest, keeping track of which directions work, until finding a new path forward.
Sure enough, she has a Tewi. Kisume handles it.
MC-kun wonders if he's fit to challenge someone named Mao. He reassures himself that it isn't the Chairman.
She's got yet another moon rabbit, Reisen II, the replacement to Udonge after she escaped her old owners. MC-kun, of course, disapproves of attempts to escape lunar purity.
She's got two copies of Rei'sen, it turns out, and Kisume defeats both.
We're not the only lost ones, however.
South of that, we find some shrubbery blocking the path. Foiled.
To the west, though, another encounter.
I let Baka handle her Udonge this time, which she does in a single hit.
MC-kun is always in perfect form.
One room away, we find what must be Eientei, as we're confronted by both Tewi and Reisen.
I note down the paths we've found, because I'm sure they'll come up eventually:
House: East, South, West.
Trees: East, South, North, West, South.
Eientei: East, South, North, West, West, North.
MC-kun isn't sure he trusts Tewi, especially after she just ran off earlier.
The best.
You'd better believe it, friendo.
With that, it's time to fight.
Tewi leads with herself. Keine handles her, but not without taking some substantial damage.
Next up is Udonge, against whom Keine gets to shine properly.
It takes two attacks, but it's soon over.
Last up is another, higher-levelled Tewi. I send in a 29hp Kisume to attempt to close out the fight.
She's more than a match, but Tewi holds on with a sliver of HP. With that, it's over.
Weren't you supposed to show me around?
Cursing the perfidy of earth rabbits, MC-kun heads toward Eientei proper.
It's another area with blue grass, presumably to distinguish a different pool of catches.
Wandering about Eientei, MC-kun immediately stumbles into Eirin's office and advances the plot.
She doesn't give MC-kun a moment to rest.
With that, it's time to fight, again. We've progressed from earth rabbits to a former moon rabbit, at least.
She opens with Seiran, who Kisume quickly defeats.
Next up, she pivots to herself, presumably her ace. At level 24, we're seeing enemies spike up very quickly after a previously gradual crawl. Keine switches in to tank.
Keine manages to win on the back of a crit and so Udonge is finished.
Last up is Ringo, back at level 20. Nue gets a chance to fight.
She accomplishes very little, despite a super-effective attack. Taking three hits from the first multi-hit attack and four from the second, she quickly flees. At least she confused Ringo in the process.
Alice switches in and, as confusion does nothing, outspeeds Ringo to get the kill. It's a lot of XP for everyone but Chip.
MC-kun is fully aware that he's amazing.
MC-kun wonders which he should stop. His experience with the Crown Prince involved fighting royalty; will he have to stare down the NEET Princess too?
Eirin doesn't specify. She says this and then leaves.
Udonge gives us a full heal, then it's time to proceed.
At this point, it's time to explore Eientei. There are some earth rabbits wandering about. The open house doesn't sound like a gloomy shed, so perhaps it was beyond the trees we couldn't cut.
There's also loot to be had.
All of the pots seem empty, but there are some food supplies to be stolen. MC-kun is always hungry.
Soon enough, MC-kun tracks down Eirin, if only by the noise.
The Puppets - Keine and Eirin - jump at one another.
At least we know who to fight now.
With that, MC-kun heads to Mokou, as Eirin walks over to Kaguya. The talking sprites quite obscure her side of the fracas.
Mokou speaks some bold words.
Then it's time to fight.
She opens with a level 26 Keine and suddenly I'm not nearly as overlevelled as I was at the start of this episode.
It's Baka's time to shine, but only after eating some chip damage from Raid.
Keine falls in one hit.
Next up is Sumireko. We let Kisume deal with her.
There's only one level's gap and it quickly descends into a vicious brawl.
Mokou switches out Sumireko to dodge what would likely have been the killing blow and now, possibly for the first time in this LP, I'm the one at a level disadvantage.
That's quickly reverse as Baka switches in for the type advantage and hits Mokou with her ludicrous cheat power.
Mokou has one last trick up her sleeve, however: on death, she inflicts a heavy blow to Baka.
Keine attempts to finish the job, but is unsuccessful as I get greedy.
Kisume rejoins the fray and does enough to claim the win.
Mokou is gracious in defeat, takes her Keine puppet and leaves.
Kaguya is not happy about that.
Eirin prevents it from going to further fighting, however.
Give me your axe. I want to 
It turns out that a doll cuts down trees, not an axe. MC-kun's fantasies are left on the back-burner for the time being.
With that, the conversation is mostly over.
But what about me, the important one?
MC-kun has kept records and doesn't think he'll need a rabbit's instructions.
MC-kun returns to Eirin's office for some healing and finds Tewi. She's apparently stuck with the manual labour of tidying up after the fight. MC-kun hasn't tidied a thing in his life.
Udonge says something that is almost certainly foreshadowing but which I'm also pretty sure is canonically wrong. It's been a while since I read Silent Sinner in Blue, but I recall her arriving as a shooting star using a lunar veil initially and not using the dream world, although she does mention that it is a known route in 2hu 15.
Autism aside, we check on Kaguya.
She's not feeling belligerent any more.
Before heading towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion, we try out the doll on the shrubbery in the bamboo forest from earlier.
I wonder if this could possibly have anything to do with Reisen's mention of the passage through the dream world earlier.
It doesn't matter, though. Eirin was too busy cleaning to give us any drugs.
By the shack, we find another TM. A nice one.
A promising name for this zone.
Maybe we won't need drugs for Eientei. We can take our own pills, found lying on the ground in the Hut of Insanity.
The rabbit outside warned him about his dreams becoming real within the shack, but he pays no heed. He devours the pill as if it were food.
Only to wake up in space.
Space apparently has wild Puppet encounters. After a stupid number of attempts, Doremy is caught.
Your fun youkai fact of the day is that, like Drowzee, Munna and Musharna, her design evokes a tapir, since they were believed to eat dreams.
The expansion was supposed to cover 2hu 15 and I'd not be surprised if I've wandered into its designated zone. I don't bother with Clownpiece, but she's another common encounter.
MC-kun is filled with thoughts of wheat as he passes the moon.
He then encounters a gate.
As he approaches it, he's confronted by some lady holding an egg. He's not sure from where she'd recognise him.
He's not to be dissuaded, however.
With that, it's time to fight the so-called Ruler of Dreams in her own territory.
She leads with Sagume. Keine is a strong defensive counter, so we send her in.
After the first whiff, Sagume at least accomplishes a little as Keine chips her down.
She then switches to herself, with Kisume taking the baton to fight.
She eventually claims her victory.
The XP gets Keine to style-change level.
MC-kun realises that he might be about to accomplish one of his life's greatest dreams.
You'd better believe it, friendo.
Next episode, MC-kun's bad trip will continue as we engage in the grand quest for moon wheat. I'll also showcase our Doremy's stats once I can check them at a box, but she likely won't be all that useful to us if I take Extra Rinnosuke as a Dream type.
These are Keine's options. I'm still undecided; all seem pretty neat.
Defense and Power Keines are great for the coming gym dungeon but Funko covered that with her steel/light typing, so go extra keine option from me for early warped coverage.
There are a few interesting puppets between Eientei to Lunar Capital.. You have Poison/Water Eirin and Void Kaguya in the grass outside Eientei; Fire Mokou can be found in the bamboo maze,, lastly with Light/Warped Junko and Void Hecatia (very rare) lurking in the current spess area as MC-kun. They are rare but have potential to be great powerhouses/trolls after a style change.
Defense sounds good
It's been a while, but we're at it again.
Starting out with another coin toss for style changes, I rolled Extra this time.
A new skill, a new form, an option for an alternate ability, which I take since I seldom have Keine at full HP and a vain hope that I've allocated EVs correctly.
Since Keine is no longer our Steel type, which has given her a lot of value over time, we might be relying on FunkoPop for a while. However, MC-kun is about to head to the moon and he draws his nature from one of the most lunatic cows. The game doesn't allow for genderspecials and so he isn't particularly concerned about moon rocks, but he's always dreamed of both purity, the overriding ideal of the zone, and moon wheat. There might be someone approaching who fits at least the former.
So MC-kun eagerly steps through the portal and into the Lunar Capital.
He quickly runs into the zone's mechanic. Approaching an NPC gets you apprehended.
And immediately kicked back to Doremy. There's no further punishment, so it's back to lunar ventures.
This, as they say, will be a sneaking mission.
It's not wheat, but it doesn't take long for MC-kun to find a lunar farm. Standing amongst the moon peaches, he realises that he might finally have reached the superior future he earned.
Despite (or perhaps because of) her inherent superiority, Toyohime the Moon Farmer (and princess, but that's less important) treats him like everyone else in the Capital.
I am apparently fairly lucky, as I encounter Yorihime as I've barely started to wander the Capital. Given MC-kun's lunar fixation, he's absolutely thrilled for an opportunity to capture one of the overpowered Watatsukis.
She attempts to defend herself, but is quickly sealed by Baka.
I don't name her, but am definitely looking out for one; she's likely to be a mainstay.
Because stats are a bit backlogged with a catch from last episode too, there'll be a unified dump later once I get access to a box; I write these as I play.
MC-kun finds another relevant NPC and gets kicked out by her too.
Ringo isn't one of the priorities, but she gets caught too. I know that she's part of the purification force designed to cleanse the earth, but between her outfit and her theme being September Pumpkin, she's always struck me as quite the agrarian type. MC-kun is thrilled with catching both the moon-farmer aspect and the cleansing part, so he doesn't pass up the opportunity.
She gets a name suited to her job. No bad tactics, after all. Maybe we'll find room in the team for her at some point.
Shortly after catching her, MC-kun stumbles upon the actual Yorihime.
Her words make him feel funny and definitely very glad he caught her, although Baka still has her place foremost in his heart.
There's also some loot to be had on the moon. A ribbon of which I'll probably never make good use.
And the actual target of the Second Lunar War. Once you've drunk your stolen sake, the lunar authorities can torture you all they like; you can't un-drink it.
MC-kun is eager to get drinking, but he's still in a dream and has to wander around until he finds Toyohime so that he can bring home a proper lunar farmer for his efforts.
Here's where I get to feel extremely thankful of my luck with finding Yorihime quickly. MC-kun wanders fruitlessly for quite some time.
Eventually, even without getting caught, Doremy pulls him back into space. Not to be dissuaded, the wandering continues.
Eventually, I get the encounter.
Baka wastes no time sealing her. She'll probably get dragged along and not used much until her style change, since Baka and Keine currently cover what she does, but she represents the culmination of MC-kun's dreams and is thus at least worthy of consideration.
With that, MC-kun's business on his bad trip - which has turned out to be very good indeed, has more or less concluded.
MC-kun quickly steps into the star from which he emerged into the dream world and wakes up in the Cabin of Insanity. Everything seems very sane once again as he prepares to depart. He first returns to Eientei to check out his new catches at the Akyuu Puppet present there.
Doremy was caught last episode. She's mediocre all around, but I wanted her for the novelty of a mono-Dream type. Dream is equivalent to typeless in your traditional Pokeymans and so it's interesting to see it used more widely in this.
Yorihime's IVs are a mixed bag, but she has a perfect FoAtk and a nature boosting Speed, so I won't complain overmuch.
Only Bad Targets isn't great.
Moon Wheat, meanwhile, edges out Keine for the second best IVs in any Puppet we have, after the broken Baka. Combined with her status as a cost 120, she probably has the capability to turn into a monstrous powerhouse.
MC-kun decides to drag both of the Watatsuki sisters along with him: Yorihime replaces FunkoPop, while Moon Wheat regrettably takes Chip's place; Rinnosuke might be a bro, but he's only half-human and not nearly as pure.
Given that they're both cost 120, getting them up to a decent level might require me to grind for the first time in the game so far, but I strongly hope otherwise.
Reisen has also turned into a dealer. If MC-kun wants to return to the dream world, Udonge is happy to hit him up for a price.
MC-kun also checks on the shack once more on his way out of the forest. There's still no-one home, but he does take a closer look - I've been suitably chastened after missing Rinnosuke in the barrel - and steals some food from the owner's cabinet.
He finds a guide rabbit by the exit. He's not headed back to Eientei, so he's more interested in the presence of Marisa.
She recognises him; their meeting by the Hakurei Shrine wasn't all that long ago.
I've been hearing all kinds of things about you lately.
It sounds like you're making great progress.
...Hm, you were asked to go on an errand by Keine?
Marisa leads with Alice. She's a much lower level than Reisen and Mokou's Puppets, so I don't worry overmuch and start cycling through our new acquisitions to get them more XP.
Moon Wheat and Yorihime give it a shot, with Yorihime proving herself an extreme glass cannon.
After that, the two arguable strongest 2hus give way to Kisume, a stage 1 midboss. As I do so, Marisa switches out Alice for herself. If this is her ace, we've definitely seen a drop in difficulty.
Marisa is vicious and almost takes out Kisume in a single shot despite being five levels lower, but our valiant bucket girl holds on and takes out Marisa in turn.
This gives us a glimpse at Marisa's third Puppet, the final member of Gensokyo's magician trio (if you don't count Byakuren). I don't gamble on Kisume being faster and instead send Keine out to fight.
She takes a lot of damage, but I'm still confident in her.
For good reason.
This leaves only Alice and, for the sake of getting the whole team into the fight, I send in Nue.
It doesn't prove a great idea as Alice immediately lands a large crit on her and she deals only chip damage in return, but I still have her hold on for another turn to heal up Kisume.
Despite entering on full health, she only narrowly takes the win.
With it, she earns the party a lot of XP and herself a style change.
Marisa is a bit more sober after being defeated.
I figured you'd got stronger, but I didn't expect you to get THIS strong.
By the way, where are you going now?
Scarlet Devil Mansion?
I see, Alice told you to go there...
Marisa saunters off-screen before returning.
You should go see her in her class before you go to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Having returned from his trip and beaten his rival, MC-kun heads to Twitter to brag. He's quickly embroiled in the most vicious kind of online argument: which girl is best. He knows that it's Cirno, but someone, plainly wrong, is insisting that it's some Higurashi girl of whom he's never heard.
Once he catches a temporary ban for the vehemence of his argument, he turns to the travelling salesman and learns that he's picked up some very pricy vendor trash indeed from his battle with Marisa. A rival of the best kind, it appears.
This lets him check out the Skill Cards that the salesman is carrying. He has an interesting assortment of non-attacks: in real Pokémon terms, I believe we're looking at Substitute, Sleep Talk, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard and Rest.
I don't trust myself to make good use of the others, but everyone knows the absolute pain that is dealing with Rest, so I grab it.
This is also the time when we consider Kisume's style change.
I'm indecisive and she's probably next on the chopping block once we find someone new regardless, but she has the option to become either a hyper-specialised tank or a better-rounded general one, all of which will probably benefit from Continue.
With that, it's a short ride back to the Human Village; MC-kun has already explored the rest of Route 4.
He also heads further afield to check on the Hakurei Shrine. Sanae is present and not very helpful; Reimu doesn't seem to be.
However, there's some food to steal behind the shrine.
There's currently no way to return to the mountain.
This is certainly a large oni (for you). We'll have to deal with her later; for now it's time to return to Keine.
As Marisa said, she's back in the schoolroom.
That sort of problem has been happening very frequently, but this time it happened at a very bad time.
Please accept this in return for all your hard work.
It's a tool for teaching a skill to a Puppet.
It's a solid move and our first Warped-type move, though, so it's definitely a good reward. Unfortunately, it's a spread attack and Keine, our only Puppet that can learn it, is fully specialised in focus.
With that, it's a return to Route 5 and the plants that defeated MC-kun not long ago. This time, he's come prepared.
Shortly afterwards, he encounters a casual. She probably plays on easymodo too.
There's also some blue grass here. It's got different encounters, but the only one that really interests me in a little farming is Rinnosuke and MC-kun already has one of him.
It's also the return of route trainers.
This rascal doesn't have a Seija, let alone two. He has a Tokiko, though, which gives Yorihime her first chance in a real fight.
She's not all that impressive for now, but gets the job done regardless.
We learn that he was just having a fun day out with his family. MC-kun can't remember ever doing that, although his brother did tolerate his presence for long enough for the two to start a podcast.
The grandfather is happy to fight too.
Nue is sent to deal with Wakasagihime.
She does the job, but manages to feel singularly unimpressive in the process.
Having finished raining on a family picnic, MC-kun proceeds.
Soon, the woods are shrouded in fog.
Oh, the places we'll go. As ever, I'm more interested in seeing how they'll keep us on the rails than anything else, so it's off to every dead end first.
As always, there's plenty of junk lying about the place.
Along with more NPCs complaining about how hard life is in the new order.
MC-kun is quickly confronted, however. Not all the local fairies are entirely useless.
Largely useless, though, as Yorihime starts to pull her weight in one of the type matchups I recognise well at this point.
MC-kun also encounters wild Cirnos for what I think is the first time. A good place to remember in case he ever wants to assemble an army.
This one boosts water moves, as you might guess.
A rambunctious youkai blocks the way.
We haven't seen a Chen in a while.
Nue takes her rare opportunity for a wholly-favourable matchup.
Against what turns out to be two Chens, even.
MC-kun isn't sure about that. He has insisted many times over the years on all sorts of social media that he's a crack shot with a pistol and would thus be ideally suited to bullet hell.
The youkai actually calls MC-kun on his bluff; he hurriedly backs away.
As befits a lake, not everyone is on land.
Waggysaggy is keen to fight, however.
She leads with Kagerou, who Yorihime miserably fails to counter, dropping from full health to 9hp on switch-in.
It instead falls to Keine, who performs much better.
Next up is Sekibanki, who manages to land a Raid (the 2humon equivalent of Fake Out, but only succeeds in weakening herself due to Keine's ability.
Last up is Wakasagihime herself. Baka dispatches her without issue.
Youkai are disgusting and impure, unlike humans. Except for Cirno.
A short distance further, MC-kun is repelled by a literal invisible wall, blocking off what the sign promised was probably the Genbu Ravine.
With that, it's back to exploring and fighting whoever catches MC-kun's gaze.
Louise, like Chen, is a pure Wind type and proves easy prey for Nue.
Both copies of her do, in fact.
MC-kun is no stranger to the ways of DFE; he strongly understands hiding from his sins.
Baka also learns her first new skill since her style change. Javelins are solid workhorse focused attacks, so I quickly replace Apple Bomb with something generally better.
There's not much to see in the mist; it must be something interesting.
A leading Wakasagihime gives Baka a good opportunity to try out her new skill.
It's exactly as lethal as you'd expect, although she does miss once thanks to her ability.
Something to remember for when the game finally hands out the Surf-equivalent. MC-kun certainly doesn't see anything.
More trainers of whom to make short work.
Losing her Steel typing on style change does not make the fight kind to Keine, but she still handles it well.
Wanna bet, friendo?
It's a tomboy. MC-kun lets his globohomo rage engulf him, but before he does he notices that she does indeed have more Puppets than her brother, at the very least.
She leads with Sekibanki. Keine sallies forth for the win.
Next up is a Cirno. This could never fall to anything but the mirror match.
Baka is left to tank for a while, however, as the opposing Cirno lands the 10% chance to stop.
After what feels like an eternity, including through eating her own laser, Baka gets her act together and deletes the lesser Cirno.
Last up is Daiyousei. Yorihime is given a chance and doesn't flub it.
The most MC-kun is likely to remember is that he fought someone with a Cirno Puppet.
The path to the west - it's overgrown with tall grass and can hardly be called a road - is blocked by rocks with which MC-kun can't presently deal.
Shockingly, this does not result in a battle, although MC-kun is heavily offended by the implication that he looks like a NEET.
He soon stumbles upon a ghost. This one appears to have a similar level of acceptance of its nature to him.
It throws out a poltergeist.
She holds on through Nue's attack and almost scores a kill.
Nue is faster, however.
Sure, bud.
Yorihime gets the opportunity to learn this, but I don't bother; we've seen basically no weather effects.
The fairies continue to prove themselves lazy.
No prizes for guessing what this means.
Baka is not one to suffer imitators lightly.
You'd better believe that she is, friendo.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Hard to go anywhere when the paths are all blocked by rocks, plants and even invisible walls.
I'll note that Normal Remilia does, in fact, learn Weather [Heavy Fog] at level 14, so if she's anywhere near the level of other Puppeteers here, here Remi should already be generating mists.
A dead end lies beyond.
On the other side of the river, MC-kun is accosted by a youkai with a pot on her head.
Her Puppet, it turns out, is a Nitori.
Baka would be a capable counter, but Nue is given a chance.
She doesn't disappoint much.
MC-kun is easily-flattered.
Past her is a messy area almost fully carpeted in tall grass. MC-kun finds a skill card lying around. I have no idea if this Tri-Attack clone is any good.
Ever the Sinophile, MC-kun seals the first Meiling he encounters, regardless of any intention to use her.
Very solid IVs, but I can't really think of anyone I'd currently replace with her.
He also picks up a charm. It cures the darkness status effect once per battle and might be useful if that ties into the Scarlet Devil Mansion's strategies.
On my way back, I check this stump on a whim and it turns out quite profitable.
Heading to Kourindou to check on Meiling's stats, MC-kun finds that Rinnosuke has some brief words for him.
He's also got some new stock. These match the types of the hairpins, but are 1.4x multiplier to the first skill of a matching type used each battle, instead of a 1.2x multiplier to all such skills. I can't afford any one way or the other, so the point is moot.
Not too many people left with whom MC-kun hasn't spoken at this point. The farmer seems a bit lost.
He's still a farmer, though, and presumably has the Aki sisters.
Yorihime, a twin herself, cleans up the Akis.
MC-kun hasn't noticed the drop in visibility from the overlay.
The lake also has an alternate exit back to route 5. I explore, hoping for a shortcut. The trek to anything relevant is lengthy.
For the second time, MC-kun encounters a fairy ready to bully him.
This one has a more novel taste in Puppets, though.
Orange is durable and lives through two attacks despite a ten-level gap, but doesn't accomplish much in the interim.
Neither does the second copy, despite some self-healing.
MC-kun isn't about to take that as an excuse. The bullied has become the bully.
Moon Wheat also gets her last pre-style change skill. I'm not generally sold on 10% chances.
A hungry, hungry youkai guards the way.
She leads with Rumia, who falls to Keine.
Mystia then fails to deal with Yorihime.
A weird bit of dialogue from the one type of youkai MC-kun thought he understood. He vaguely misses his binge-eating with Karen.
While this looks like a shortcut, it's also decidedly one-way, so MC-kun turns back. All that's left, he thinks, is the Mansion.
As he approaches the gates, however, he notices something.
He's not the only one planning some breaking and entering.
We'll conclude this episode here and deal with the Scarlet Devil Manor Soon™.
A new skill, a new form, an option for an alternate ability, which I take since I seldom have Keine at full HP and a vain hope that I've allocated EVs correctly.
So MC-kun eagerly steps through the portal and into the Lunar Capital.
He quickly runs into the zone's mechanic. Approaching an NPC gets you apprehended.
And immediately kicked back to Doremy. There's no further punishment, so it's back to lunar ventures.
This, as they say, will be a sneaking mission.
It's not wheat, but it doesn't take long for MC-kun to find a lunar farm. Standing amongst the moon peaches, he realises that he might finally have reached the superior future he earned.
Despite (or perhaps because of) her inherent superiority, Toyohime the Moon Farmer (and princess, but that's less important) treats him like everyone else in the Capital.
I am apparently fairly lucky, as I encounter Yorihime as I've barely started to wander the Capital. Given MC-kun's lunar fixation, he's absolutely thrilled for an opportunity to capture one of the overpowered Watatsukis.
She attempts to defend herself, but is quickly sealed by Baka.
I don't name her, but am definitely looking out for one; she's likely to be a mainstay.
Because stats are a bit backlogged with a catch from last episode too, there'll be a unified dump later once I get access to a box; I write these as I play.
MC-kun finds another relevant NPC and gets kicked out by her too.
Ringo isn't one of the priorities, but she gets caught too. I know that she's part of the purification force designed to cleanse the earth, but between her outfit and her theme being September Pumpkin, she's always struck me as quite the agrarian type. MC-kun is thrilled with catching both the moon-farmer aspect and the cleansing part, so he doesn't pass up the opportunity.
She gets a name suited to her job. No bad tactics, after all. Maybe we'll find room in the team for her at some point.
Shortly after catching her, MC-kun stumbles upon the actual Yorihime.
Her words make him feel funny and definitely very glad he caught her, although Baka still has her place foremost in his heart.
There's also some loot to be had on the moon. A ribbon of which I'll probably never make good use.
And the actual target of the Second Lunar War. Once you've drunk your stolen sake, the lunar authorities can torture you all they like; you can't un-drink it.
MC-kun is eager to get drinking, but he's still in a dream and has to wander around until he finds Toyohime so that he can bring home a proper lunar farmer for his efforts.
Here's where I get to feel extremely thankful of my luck with finding Yorihime quickly. MC-kun wanders fruitlessly for quite some time.
Eventually, even without getting caught, Doremy pulls him back into space. Not to be dissuaded, the wandering continues.
Eventually, I get the encounter.
Baka wastes no time sealing her. She'll probably get dragged along and not used much until her style change, since Baka and Keine currently cover what she does, but she represents the culmination of MC-kun's dreams and is thus at least worthy of consideration.
With that, MC-kun's business on his bad trip - which has turned out to be very good indeed, has more or less concluded.
MC-kun quickly steps into the star from which he emerged into the dream world and wakes up in the Cabin of Insanity. Everything seems very sane once again as he prepares to depart. He first returns to Eientei to check out his new catches at the Akyuu Puppet present there.
Doremy was caught last episode. She's mediocre all around, but I wanted her for the novelty of a mono-Dream type. Dream is equivalent to typeless in your traditional Pokeymans and so it's interesting to see it used more widely in this.
Yorihime's IVs are a mixed bag, but she has a perfect FoAtk and a nature boosting Speed, so I won't complain overmuch.
Only Bad Targets isn't great.
Moon Wheat, meanwhile, edges out Keine for the second best IVs in any Puppet we have, after the broken Baka. Combined with her status as a cost 120, she probably has the capability to turn into a monstrous powerhouse.
Given that they're both cost 120, getting them up to a decent level might require me to grind for the first time in the game so far, but I strongly hope otherwise.
Reisen has also turned into a dealer. If MC-kun wants to return to the dream world, Udonge is happy to hit him up for a price.
MC-kun also checks on the shack once more on his way out of the forest. There's still no-one home, but he does take a closer look - I've been suitably chastened after missing Rinnosuke in the barrel - and steals some food from the owner's cabinet.
He finds a guide rabbit by the exit. He's not headed back to Eientei, so he's more interested in the presence of Marisa.
She recognises him; their meeting by the Hakurei Shrine wasn't all that long ago.
I've been hearing all kinds of things about you lately.All good things about the best person, I hope.
It sounds like you're making great progress.You helped out with Eientei, right?
When a teacher asked me to, it gave me high-school flashbacks and I couldn't disobey.
...Hm, you were asked to go on an errand by Keine?I figure you've got much stronger if Keine trusts you to run this errand for her.
Well, while we have the chance, I challenge you to a battle!
I want to see how strong you've become.
Now, come at me!
I'll glass you, friendo. Boston doesn't tolerate weakness.
Marisa leads with Alice. She's a much lower level than Reisen and Mokou's Puppets, so I don't worry overmuch and start cycling through our new acquisitions to get them more XP.
Moon Wheat and Yorihime give it a shot, with Yorihime proving herself an extreme glass cannon.
After that, the two arguable strongest 2hus give way to Kisume, a stage 1 midboss. As I do so, Marisa switches out Alice for herself. If this is her ace, we've definitely seen a drop in difficulty.
Marisa is vicious and almost takes out Kisume in a single shot despite being five levels lower, but our valiant bucket girl holds on and takes out Marisa in turn.
This gives us a glimpse at Marisa's third Puppet, the final member of Gensokyo's magician trio (if you don't count Byakuren). I don't gamble on Kisume being faster and instead send Keine out to fight.
She takes a lot of damage, but I'm still confident in her.
For good reason.
This leaves only Alice and, for the sake of getting the whole team into the fight, I send in Nue.
It doesn't prove a great idea as Alice immediately lands a large crit on her and she deals only chip damage in return, but I still have her hold on for another turn to heal up Kisume.
Despite entering on full health, she only narrowly takes the win.
With it, she earns the party a lot of XP and herself a style change.
Marisa is a bit more sober after being defeated.
I figured you'd got stronger, but I didn't expect you to get THIS strong.Told you I'm the best, pal.
By the way, where are you going now?I've finally learned how to circumvent shrubbery. Scarlet Devil Mansion, here I come!
Scarlet Devil Mansion?That's what I said, yes.
I see, Alice told you to go there...Well, I'd better get going too.
I'm going to get much stronger, so you'd better plan on doing the same!
Marisa saunters off-screen before returning.
You should go see her in her class before you go to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.She's trustworthy, so I'm sure she'll give you something in return for your help.
I'm going for real now. See ya.
With that, she actually leaves. MC-kun is pretty enthused about the prospect of a quest reward.Having returned from his trip and beaten his rival, MC-kun heads to Twitter to brag. He's quickly embroiled in the most vicious kind of online argument: which girl is best. He knows that it's Cirno, but someone, plainly wrong, is insisting that it's some Higurashi girl of whom he's never heard.
Once he catches a temporary ban for the vehemence of his argument, he turns to the travelling salesman and learns that he's picked up some very pricy vendor trash indeed from his battle with Marisa. A rival of the best kind, it appears.
This lets him check out the Skill Cards that the salesman is carrying. He has an interesting assortment of non-attacks: in real Pokémon terms, I believe we're looking at Substitute, Sleep Talk, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard and Rest.
I don't trust myself to make good use of the others, but everyone knows the absolute pain that is dealing with Rest, so I grab it.
This is also the time when we consider Kisume's style change.
With that, it's a short ride back to the Human Village; MC-kun has already explored the rest of Route 4.
He also heads further afield to check on the Hakurei Shrine. Sanae is present and not very helpful; Reimu doesn't seem to be.
However, there's some food to steal behind the shrine.
There's currently no way to return to the mountain.
This is certainly a large oni (for you). We'll have to deal with her later; for now it's time to return to Keine.
As Marisa said, she's back in the schoolroom.
That sort of problem has been happening very frequently, but this time it happened at a very bad time.Thank you very much.
Is this when you pay me?
Please accept this in return for all your hard work.
It's a tool for teaching a skill to a Puppet.It should help you on your journey.
Well then, take care.
MC-kun accepts his payment, not bothering to insist that he knows what a TM is. He wants to keep his interactions with schools and teachers to a minimum.
It's a solid move and our first Warped-type move, though, so it's definitely a good reward. Unfortunately, it's a spread attack and Keine, our only Puppet that can learn it, is fully specialised in focus.
With that, it's a return to Route 5 and the plants that defeated MC-kun not long ago. This time, he's come prepared.
Shortly afterwards, he encounters a casual. She probably plays on easymodo too.
There's also some blue grass here. It's got different encounters, but the only one that really interests me in a little farming is Rinnosuke and MC-kun already has one of him.
It's also the return of route trainers.
This rascal doesn't have a Seija, let alone two. He has a Tokiko, though, which gives Yorihime her first chance in a real fight.
She's not all that impressive for now, but gets the job done regardless.
We learn that he was just having a fun day out with his family. MC-kun can't remember ever doing that, although his brother did tolerate his presence for long enough for the two to start a podcast.
The grandfather is happy to fight too.
Nue is sent to deal with Wakasagihime.
She does the job, but manages to feel singularly unimpressive in the process.
Having finished raining on a family picnic, MC-kun proceeds.
Soon, the woods are shrouded in fog.
Oh, the places we'll go. As ever, I'm more interested in seeing how they'll keep us on the rails than anything else, so it's off to every dead end first.
As always, there's plenty of junk lying about the place.
Along with more NPCs complaining about how hard life is in the new order.
MC-kun is quickly confronted, however. Not all the local fairies are entirely useless.
Largely useless, though, as Yorihime starts to pull her weight in one of the type matchups I recognise well at this point.
MC-kun also encounters wild Cirnos for what I think is the first time. A good place to remember in case he ever wants to assemble an army.
This one boosts water moves, as you might guess.
A rambunctious youkai blocks the way.
We haven't seen a Chen in a while.
Nue takes her rare opportunity for a wholly-favourable matchup.
Against what turns out to be two Chens, even.
MC-kun isn't sure about that. He has insisted many times over the years on all sorts of social media that he's a crack shot with a pistol and would thus be ideally suited to bullet hell.
The youkai actually calls MC-kun on his bluff; he hurriedly backs away.
As befits a lake, not everyone is on land.
Waggysaggy is keen to fight, however.
She leads with Kagerou, who Yorihime miserably fails to counter, dropping from full health to 9hp on switch-in.
It instead falls to Keine, who performs much better.
Next up is Sekibanki, who manages to land a Raid (the 2humon equivalent of Fake Out, but only succeeds in weakening herself due to Keine's ability.
Last up is Wakasagihime herself. Baka dispatches her without issue.
Youkai are disgusting and impure, unlike humans. Except for Cirno.
A short distance further, MC-kun is repelled by a literal invisible wall, blocking off what the sign promised was probably the Genbu Ravine.
With that, it's back to exploring and fighting whoever catches MC-kun's gaze.
Louise, like Chen, is a pure Wind type and proves easy prey for Nue.
Both copies of her do, in fact.
MC-kun is no stranger to the ways of DFE; he strongly understands hiding from his sins.
Baka also learns her first new skill since her style change. Javelins are solid workhorse focused attacks, so I quickly replace Apple Bomb with something generally better.
There's not much to see in the mist; it must be something interesting.
A leading Wakasagihime gives Baka a good opportunity to try out her new skill.
It's exactly as lethal as you'd expect, although she does miss once thanks to her ability.
Something to remember for when the game finally hands out the Surf-equivalent. MC-kun certainly doesn't see anything.
More trainers of whom to make short work.
Losing her Steel typing on style change does not make the fight kind to Keine, but she still handles it well.
Wanna bet, friendo?
It's a tomboy. MC-kun lets his globohomo rage engulf him, but before he does he notices that she does indeed have more Puppets than her brother, at the very least.
She leads with Sekibanki. Keine sallies forth for the win.
Next up is a Cirno. This could never fall to anything but the mirror match.
Baka is left to tank for a while, however, as the opposing Cirno lands the 10% chance to stop.
After what feels like an eternity, including through eating her own laser, Baka gets her act together and deletes the lesser Cirno.
Last up is Daiyousei. Yorihime is given a chance and doesn't flub it.
The most MC-kun is likely to remember is that he fought someone with a Cirno Puppet.
The path to the west - it's overgrown with tall grass and can hardly be called a road - is blocked by rocks with which MC-kun can't presently deal.
Shockingly, this does not result in a battle, although MC-kun is heavily offended by the implication that he looks like a NEET.
He soon stumbles upon a ghost. This one appears to have a similar level of acceptance of its nature to him.
It throws out a poltergeist.
She holds on through Nue's attack and almost scores a kill.
Nue is faster, however.
Sure, bud.
Yorihime gets the opportunity to learn this, but I don't bother; we've seen basically no weather effects.
The fairies continue to prove themselves lazy.
No prizes for guessing what this means.
Baka is not one to suffer imitators lightly.
You'd better believe that she is, friendo.
I wouldn't worry about it.
Hard to go anywhere when the paths are all blocked by rocks, plants and even invisible walls.
I'll note that Normal Remilia does, in fact, learn Weather [Heavy Fog] at level 14, so if she's anywhere near the level of other Puppeteers here, here Remi should already be generating mists.
A dead end lies beyond.
On the other side of the river, MC-kun is accosted by a youkai with a pot on her head.
Her Puppet, it turns out, is a Nitori.
Baka would be a capable counter, but Nue is given a chance.
She doesn't disappoint much.
MC-kun is easily-flattered.
Past her is a messy area almost fully carpeted in tall grass. MC-kun finds a skill card lying around. I have no idea if this Tri-Attack clone is any good.
Ever the Sinophile, MC-kun seals the first Meiling he encounters, regardless of any intention to use her.
Very solid IVs, but I can't really think of anyone I'd currently replace with her.
He also picks up a charm. It cures the darkness status effect once per battle and might be useful if that ties into the Scarlet Devil Mansion's strategies.
On my way back, I check this stump on a whim and it turns out quite profitable.
Heading to Kourindou to check on Meiling's stats, MC-kun finds that Rinnosuke has some brief words for him.
He's also got some new stock. These match the types of the hairpins, but are 1.4x multiplier to the first skill of a matching type used each battle, instead of a 1.2x multiplier to all such skills. I can't afford any one way or the other, so the point is moot.
Not too many people left with whom MC-kun hasn't spoken at this point. The farmer seems a bit lost.
He's still a farmer, though, and presumably has the Aki sisters.
Yorihime, a twin herself, cleans up the Akis.
MC-kun hasn't noticed the drop in visibility from the overlay.
The lake also has an alternate exit back to route 5. I explore, hoping for a shortcut. The trek to anything relevant is lengthy.
For the second time, MC-kun encounters a fairy ready to bully him.
This one has a more novel taste in Puppets, though.
Orange is durable and lives through two attacks despite a ten-level gap, but doesn't accomplish much in the interim.
Neither does the second copy, despite some self-healing.
MC-kun isn't about to take that as an excuse. The bullied has become the bully.
Moon Wheat also gets her last pre-style change skill. I'm not generally sold on 10% chances.
A hungry, hungry youkai guards the way.
She leads with Rumia, who falls to Keine.
Mystia then fails to deal with Yorihime.
A weird bit of dialogue from the one type of youkai MC-kun thought he understood. He vaguely misses his binge-eating with Karen.
While this looks like a shortcut, it's also decidedly one-way, so MC-kun turns back. All that's left, he thinks, is the Mansion.
As he approaches the gates, however, he notices something.
He's not the only one planning some breaking and entering.
We'll conclude this episode here and deal with the Scarlet Devil Manor Soon™.
Attachments
Extra Kisume looks promising. You get 100+ base on both defenses and a decent 90 FO and HP stats. a sweet dual typing that leaves her weak only to poison, which is rather uncommon. Her FO and HP ain't too shabby either. EKisume also gets a mega drain skill later.
Restraint is also nice to have as a middle finger to AIs who loves switching.
Restraint is also nice to have as a middle finger to AIs who loves switching.
There is a marisa puppet hiding among the crates in the left basement store room, together with a fairy. Marisa is rather rare, so try to get that one. Her extra style has serious mileage later on when you get correct TMs.
Getting straight to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. With thanks to @Genichiro for the notes on what not to miss.
Before getting into the Mansion itself, there's still the sides to explore. Here, we find what seems like a fairly solid attack.
There's also the matter of Kisume's style change.
As requested, Kisume takes on the general tank role and picks up the Restraint ability. It won't help with the AI's usual switching shenanigans, but Indomitable will do basically nothing unless I make a horrible mistake.
EV-wise, I max out HP and equalise her defences, along with getting one extra speed to perhaps outspeed the occasional slow enemy on what would otherwise be a tie with the leftovers.
She's got a new suite of skills too, which is helpful since she's gone from wanting SpAtk to FoAtk and has also changed type from Dark/Fire to Fire/Nature. Unfortunately, she can't learn any good attacks for her new stat distribution, so it's time to give her an absolutely cancerous build.
She can burn. She can set up entry hazards. She can rest. She's got one attack if necessary, which is also the equivalent of Knock Off and can thus remove a troublesome item. All she needs is a Leftovers equivalent to become an absolute nightmare.
The gatekeeper is asleep, so MC-kun heads towards the Mansion.
Before entering, MC-kun pauses to admire thespritework architecture.
He's stared down by a vampire the moment he steps through the door.
I had a feeling you would come.
I am Remilia, the master of this mansion.
...Oh, you're looking for the library.
Remilia locked the door behind her, so MC-kun will have to explore the rest of the Mansion.
A fairy maid blocks the stairs to the first floor on either side, leaving only the stairs down to the basement.
To the right, there's a warehouse. MC-kun feels a premonition; this place feels important.
He finds his best sealing thread first, sitting in a pot.
There's also a skill card lying behind a cabinet.
Perhaps most importantly, there's a Marisa Puppet in a crate.
Nue presides over her capture.
Bad IVs and an unproductive nature. She might replace Nue at some point, but I don't really have a use for her.
Opposite the warehouse is the library. It's much grander by far.
Marisa doesn't have much to say, but she's blocking the path.
None of them appear to be Harry Potter or Super Mario Bros. 3: Brick by Brick, so MC-kun isn't interested.
MC-kun doesn't know who Koakuma is either.
The librarian won't let the disturbance pass, however, and so it's time for a fight.
She leads with Tokiko. She first appears to be easy prey for Yorihime.
I'm immediately disabused of that notion as she makes her retreat with a switch-out move, immediately putting lie to my comments earlier about the usefulness of Kisume's new ability.
With that said, it's Kisume's time to shine. She takes very little damage from a very impressive-looking attack.
After laying down some spikes, the time for cancer arrives.
Like Tokiko before her, Koakuma attempts to escape with Changeling, but this time she's trapped. Thanks, @Genichiro.
Soon enough, the stalling does its job.
The final Puppet is a Daiyousei, who takes some chip damage on switch-in.
Kisume eventually wakes up in time to do her thing.
At that point, Keine shows up to finish the job, with Tokiko dying on the switch-in.
A predictable outcome, but one that is much more concerning to the librarian than it is to MC-kun, who just asks about youma books.
MC-kun starts to mention that he's already met Remilia and has an invitation to her room.
Koakuma ignores him, however. It stings almost as much as being blocked on Twitter.
She doesn't have further dialogue.
Her fight, however, did unlock Nue's style change.
As always, there are three options. For once, I'm not leaving this to choice. Defence Nue would clash with Kisume and my 2hu 11 bias gives the latter a much more secure spot in the team, even if both are on the chopping block. Meanwhile, Extra is another focused attacker and, between Baka, Keine and Yorihime, we have plenty of those, so Power it is.
With that, we get our first dedicated spread sweeper. Hobgoblin doesn't seem at all useful against the AI, so I go for the accuracy boost instead.
When it comes to building Nue, I run into the problem that she's very slow. The very good spread attack and solid spread defence alongside low speed for a sweeper is not an unfamiliar combination, although 50 speed is particularly heinous. I do what I can with EVs to make up for it, but she's still going to get frequently outsped.
She's also got a number of new skill options, along with a disappointing assortment from TMs/skill cards.
With that said, she does pick up a healing skill, so perhaps she won't be eternally low-HP.
With Nue handled, it's time to proceed.
Some wandering later, MC-kun stumbles onto Patchouli.
I've just been checking out your basement apartment. It's pretty sick, friendo.
Whatever, lady. Just tell me about the Puppets.
The thought never crossed my mind, friendo. Alice just told me to hunt after you.
With that, it's time to fight Patche. She only has two Puppets.
She opens with Alice and Kisume responds. Two turns later and Alice is down.
Patche's other puppet is herself.
Her ability mirrors the burn to Kisume, but she's above that trick.
Kisume tanks through her resting and then takes the fight.
....I'm not related to the Puppets. It's true.
Anyway, you can go to Remi's room from the door over there.
With that, it's time to leave.
Healing gets some fatalistic dialogue.
Oh, it's just you, MC-kun.
With that, the slinking cat over there departs.
Before heading to Remilia, MC-kun explores the rest of the library and notes that there is an Akyuu Puppet for if he wants to switch up the team.
With that, it's out of the basement library and back into the mansion proper. It's a maze. The whole place is swarming with wild Puppets.
Shortly into searching through the labyrinth, MC-kun is stopped by a maid. He hasn't cleaned a thing in his life and so fights instead.
Style-changed Nue gets her first fight and performs excellently.
I seal a Patchouli just to complete the magician trio.
Another maid, another fight.
Moon Wheat gets her first real fight, against Ruukoto.
Through the Indomitable ability, she holds on with 1 HP. The scenario designer no doubt planned this: Final Tribulation appears to be this game's Explosion and finishes off the caster. Moon Wheat endures, however.
The whole place is swarming with fairy maids. What's one more?
Nue deals with both, although she's still slower despite a large level gap and a bunch of Speed EVs.
The maid is more introspective than most. MC-kun learns nothing.
Baka dispatches her imitator in a single shot through raw power after I accidentally select the wrong skill. She really is disgustingly overpowered.
The following Sunny does no better.
The game perfectly anticipates MC-kun's western sensibilities and level of respect.
Yorihime versus Daiyousei proves surprisingly close. I resolve to get her a damage-boosting item to help with this consistent disappointment.
Baka is then brought in to deal with a Cirno.
MC-kun isn't the only one in the maze. She's nowhere nearby, but there's a vampire stalking the halls.
He's interrupted as he hurries towards where she was.
In his hurry, he allows Baka to deal with the whole fight.
All she guards, however, is a thread in a dustbin.
They say that if you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life.
Keine swiftly deals with Daiyousei, although she decidedly suffers in the new type matchup.
Do I know you?
She's not going to be the one to stop him.
Kisume takes all of 2 HP in damage taking out her team.
She's apparently not been doing her job, since there's some food lying on the ground.
A novel sprite, but unfortunately not a novel team.
Kisume is dispatched and Daiyousei holds on through a single attack, but it isn't enough.
I can tell, friendo.
Past her, there's a TM.
The maze continues. Thoroughly lost at this point, MC-kun finds an item.
This manor is something out of Scooby Doo. The doors here lead to one another.
At last, a different-looking area. It's a puzzle, with wrong options leading back to the same Scooby Doo door above.
That then leads to another choice of path.
MC-kun fancies himself an expert on both throwing knives and cooking - just ask him about his Mountain Dew Chicken - but he can't really draw the comparison.
A new Puppet: the maid throws Sakuya at us, but Keine deals with her easily.
All that she's guarding is a thread. At least it means that I picked exactly the right path first.
The final path at last takes us somewhere new, and to a new TM at that. Koakuma demonstrated the power of Changeling; it's a power-70 Dark-type move in addition to the switch and that's pretty solid in a pinch.
After that is a bedroom. MC-kun, a modern Goldilocks, pauses to take a rest in the bed.
He also loots the cupboard. He gaffles some peaches, which serve as a Full Restore.
That leads him to a new part of the Mansion. Most of the maids here don't seem to want to fight, but do have glowing things to say about Sakuya and Remilia.
One of them white-knights Flandre too, but we'll leave her to Wack for now.
It's the fighting-type hairpin.
She couldn't be more right. Since we've arrived, we've seen one Chinaman, two magicians (one who doesn't even live here), one succubus, one vampire and far too many fairies.
Not particularly useful, although I should really just hand out items to everyone without one.
This, on the other hand, is a 200 HP heal and isn't particularly useful right now when Kisume, our tankiest Puppet, has 135 HP, but no doubt will come in handy later.
Interminable wandering later, MC-kun is interrupted by dialogue.
She quite literally teleports behind him.
With that, it's time to fight Sakuya.
She starts with Meiling, who Nue handles.
At this point, we hit a landmark moment: she sends out herself, presumably her ace, and it's our first style-changed opposing Puppet.
She puts the hurt on Keine, but ultimately can't deal with her.
Last up is Ruukoto. I take a bet on her using the same Self-Destruct strategy as the last one.
The screen turns red and I'm proven entirely correct.
Between the halved FoAtk from darkness and her stellar defences, Kisume tanks the explosion with barely a scratch.
With that, she disappears without a trace.
Before heading through the door, however, MC-kun has somewhere else to go.
He's feeling peckish and starts grabbing whatever he can from the dining room and kitchens.
He also finds out that the fairies aren't even being paid - he'd call it a foreign concept, but people have been very reluctant to pay him lately too.
With that, it's time for a chat with Remilia.
The descendant of vampires who feeds on human's blood.
Fufu, you look tired.
Huhu, now, it's time for the main event.
The time for words is over and the time for what is presumably our next boss has arrived.
She leads with Power Sakuya. At last, we're seeing Puppets over level 30 and hence some build diversity. Baka takes care of her easily enough to make me feel bad, however.
Yorihime switches in and gets one-shot, so it falls to Nue.
It's a close fight, but Nue takes the win.
Last up is something unusual: the Scarlet Avatar. I'm pretty sure it's the first named enemy Puppet we've seen in the game, and it brought a smile to my face after one of the fairy maids mentioned Remilia having a peculiar taste in Puppet names.
Keine switches in and almost falls to an attack that isn't even super-effective, but ultimately claims the victory for herself.
Oh, you're strong than I expected.
I was just killing time.
Oh, I forgot to tell you.
Your fate will change as much as you can.
...
With this, we're sorted. Remilia, however, offers a new service.
Given my nicknaming skills, she's probably right. Still, she's this game's Name Rater and that means that, if you have any names for any of our Puppets, please give them to me.
Ever interested in girls' bedrooms, MC-kun takes a look. He finds the highest-quality thread (according to its description) lying on a table.
For once, however, he's prevented from using the bed, a sumptuous four-poster.
We'll end with a few skills learned by various Puppets.
Baka gets another powerhouse of a move.
Kisume gets the option for a javelin. It'd be a solid STAB move and I did complain earlier about the lack of a good option, but I leave it for now in favour of her current Dark type coverage.
Lastly, Keine picks up some actual Warped coverage. This will come in very helpful.
Next time: into the ravine.
Before getting into the Mansion itself, there's still the sides to explore. Here, we find what seems like a fairly solid attack.
There's also the matter of Kisume's style change.
As requested, Kisume takes on the general tank role and picks up the Restraint ability. It won't help with the AI's usual switching shenanigans, but Indomitable will do basically nothing unless I make a horrible mistake.
EV-wise, I max out HP and equalise her defences, along with getting one extra speed to perhaps outspeed the occasional slow enemy on what would otherwise be a tie with the leftovers.
She's got a new suite of skills too, which is helpful since she's gone from wanting SpAtk to FoAtk and has also changed type from Dark/Fire to Fire/Nature. Unfortunately, she can't learn any good attacks for her new stat distribution, so it's time to give her an absolutely cancerous build.
She can burn. She can set up entry hazards. She can rest. She's got one attack if necessary, which is also the equivalent of Knock Off and can thus remove a troublesome item. All she needs is a Leftovers equivalent to become an absolute nightmare.
The gatekeeper is asleep, so MC-kun heads towards the Mansion.
Before entering, MC-kun pauses to admire the
He's stared down by a vampire the moment he steps through the door.
I had a feeling you would come.My reputation precedes me.
I am Remilia, the master of this mansion.I can see through a person's fate.
Your fate looks interesting.
MC-kun doesn't consider for a moment, even after seeing the Chinese gatekeeper outside, whether this might be an insult.I'm just here for youma books.
...Oh, you're looking for the library.I thought you came here for me.
Come see me after you're done with Patchy.
I can guide you on the path of your destiny.
But only if you can make it to my room.
Until we meet again...
Without waiting for a response, Remilia takes her leave. MC-kun wouldn't have spoke anyway; the moment he was invited to another woman's room in Gensokyo, he took out his handheld and started looking for reception to boast.
Remilia locked the door behind her, so MC-kun will have to explore the rest of the Mansion.
A fairy maid blocks the stairs to the first floor on either side, leaving only the stairs down to the basement.
To the right, there's a warehouse. MC-kun feels a premonition; this place feels important.
He finds his best sealing thread first, sitting in a pot.
There's also a skill card lying behind a cabinet.
Perhaps most importantly, there's a Marisa Puppet in a crate.
Nue presides over her capture.
Bad IVs and an unproductive nature. She might replace Nue at some point, but I don't really have a use for her.
Opposite the warehouse is the library. It's much grander by far.
Marisa doesn't have much to say, but she's blocking the path.
None of them appear to be Harry Potter or Super Mario Bros. 3: Brick by Brick, so MC-kun isn't interested.
MC-kun doesn't know who Koakuma is either.
The librarian won't let the disturbance pass, however, and so it's time for a fight.
She leads with Tokiko. She first appears to be easy prey for Yorihime.
I'm immediately disabused of that notion as she makes her retreat with a switch-out move, immediately putting lie to my comments earlier about the usefulness of Kisume's new ability.
With that said, it's Kisume's time to shine. She takes very little damage from a very impressive-looking attack.
After laying down some spikes, the time for cancer arrives.
Like Tokiko before her, Koakuma attempts to escape with Changeling, but this time she's trapped. Thanks, @Genichiro.
Soon enough, the stalling does its job.
The final Puppet is a Daiyousei, who takes some chip damage on switch-in.
Kisume eventually wakes up in time to do her thing.
At that point, Keine shows up to finish the job, with Tokiko dying on the switch-in.
A predictable outcome, but one that is much more concerning to the librarian than it is to MC-kun, who just asks about youma books.
MC-kun starts to mention that he's already met Remilia and has an invitation to her room.
Koakuma ignores him, however. It stings almost as much as being blocked on Twitter.
She doesn't have further dialogue.
Her fight, however, did unlock Nue's style change.
As always, there are three options. For once, I'm not leaving this to choice. Defence Nue would clash with Kisume and my 2hu 11 bias gives the latter a much more secure spot in the team, even if both are on the chopping block. Meanwhile, Extra is another focused attacker and, between Baka, Keine and Yorihime, we have plenty of those, so Power it is.
With that, we get our first dedicated spread sweeper. Hobgoblin doesn't seem at all useful against the AI, so I go for the accuracy boost instead.
When it comes to building Nue, I run into the problem that she's very slow. The very good spread attack and solid spread defence alongside low speed for a sweeper is not an unfamiliar combination, although 50 speed is particularly heinous. I do what I can with EVs to make up for it, but she's still going to get frequently outsped.
She's also got a number of new skill options, along with a disappointing assortment from TMs/skill cards.
With that said, she does pick up a healing skill, so perhaps she won't be eternally low-HP.
Some wandering later, MC-kun stumbles onto Patchouli.
I've just been checking out your basement apartment. It's pretty sick, friendo.I think this place is none of your business....
Whatever, lady. Just tell me about the Puppets.Puppets moving through magic?
So you're suspecting me, aren't you?
So you're suspecting me, aren't you?
The thought never crossed my mind, friendo. Alice just told me to hunt after you.Sadly, that formula is different from mine.
Even if it was mine, I don't have any obligation to tell you.
...Well, I guess it's time to stop hiding.
I must remove the intruder.
Even if it was mine, I don't have any obligation to tell you.
...Well, I guess it's time to stop hiding.
I must remove the intruder.
With that, it's time to fight Patche. She only has two Puppets.
She opens with Alice and Kisume responds. Two turns later and Alice is down.
Patche's other puppet is herself.
Her ability mirrors the burn to Kisume, but she's above that trick.
Kisume tanks through her resting and then takes the fight.
....I'm not related to the Puppets. It's true.If you can't believe your ears, you can ask that slinking cat over there.
Well, you're being called by Remi, right?
How did I know that?
She knew you were coming here from reading the newspaper and was antsy waiting for you.
How predictable.
Turns out that fate-reading powers pale before the Tengu-owned media once again.Anyway, you can go to Remi's room from the door over there.I won't stop you if you don't care what happens.
But...
You're gonna have a hard time if you're going as is.
I can heal your Puppets. Talk to me if you need to.
With that, it's time to leave.
Healing gets some fatalistic dialogue.
Oh, it's just you, MC-kun.
With that, the slinking cat over there departs.
Before heading to Remilia, MC-kun explores the rest of the library and notes that there is an Akyuu Puppet for if he wants to switch up the team.
With that, it's out of the basement library and back into the mansion proper. It's a maze. The whole place is swarming with wild Puppets.
Shortly into searching through the labyrinth, MC-kun is stopped by a maid. He hasn't cleaned a thing in his life and so fights instead.
Style-changed Nue gets her first fight and performs excellently.
I seal a Patchouli just to complete the magician trio.
Another maid, another fight.
Moon Wheat gets her first real fight, against Ruukoto.
Through the Indomitable ability, she holds on with 1 HP. The scenario designer no doubt planned this: Final Tribulation appears to be this game's Explosion and finishes off the caster. Moon Wheat endures, however.
The whole place is swarming with fairy maids. What's one more?
Nue deals with both, although she's still slower despite a large level gap and a bunch of Speed EVs.
The maid is more introspective than most. MC-kun learns nothing.
Baka dispatches her imitator in a single shot through raw power after I accidentally select the wrong skill. She really is disgustingly overpowered.
The following Sunny does no better.
The game perfectly anticipates MC-kun's western sensibilities and level of respect.
Yorihime versus Daiyousei proves surprisingly close. I resolve to get her a damage-boosting item to help with this consistent disappointment.
Baka is then brought in to deal with a Cirno.
MC-kun isn't the only one in the maze. She's nowhere nearby, but there's a vampire stalking the halls.
He's interrupted as he hurries towards where she was.
In his hurry, he allows Baka to deal with the whole fight.
All she guards, however, is a thread in a dustbin.
They say that if you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life.
Keine swiftly deals with Daiyousei, although she decidedly suffers in the new type matchup.
Do I know you?
She's not going to be the one to stop him.
Kisume takes all of 2 HP in damage taking out her team.
She's apparently not been doing her job, since there's some food lying on the ground.
A novel sprite, but unfortunately not a novel team.
Kisume is dispatched and Daiyousei holds on through a single attack, but it isn't enough.
I can tell, friendo.
Past her, there's a TM.
The maze continues. Thoroughly lost at this point, MC-kun finds an item.
This manor is something out of Scooby Doo. The doors here lead to one another.
At last, a different-looking area. It's a puzzle, with wrong options leading back to the same Scooby Doo door above.
That then leads to another choice of path.
MC-kun fancies himself an expert on both throwing knives and cooking - just ask him about his Mountain Dew Chicken - but he can't really draw the comparison.
A new Puppet: the maid throws Sakuya at us, but Keine deals with her easily.
All that she's guarding is a thread. At least it means that I picked exactly the right path first.
The final path at last takes us somewhere new, and to a new TM at that. Koakuma demonstrated the power of Changeling; it's a power-70 Dark-type move in addition to the switch and that's pretty solid in a pinch.
After that is a bedroom. MC-kun, a modern Goldilocks, pauses to take a rest in the bed.
He also loots the cupboard. He gaffles some peaches, which serve as a Full Restore.
That leads him to a new part of the Mansion. Most of the maids here don't seem to want to fight, but do have glowing things to say about Sakuya and Remilia.
One of them white-knights Flandre too, but we'll leave her to Wack for now.
It's the fighting-type hairpin.
She couldn't be more right. Since we've arrived, we've seen one Chinaman, two magicians (one who doesn't even live here), one succubus, one vampire and far too many fairies.
Not particularly useful, although I should really just hand out items to everyone without one.
This, on the other hand, is a 200 HP heal and isn't particularly useful right now when Kisume, our tankiest Puppet, has 135 HP, but no doubt will come in handy later.
Interminable wandering later, MC-kun is interrupted by dialogue.
She quite literally teleports behind him.
With that, it's time to fight Sakuya.
She starts with Meiling, who Nue handles.
At this point, we hit a landmark moment: she sends out herself, presumably her ace, and it's our first style-changed opposing Puppet.
She puts the hurt on Keine, but ultimately can't deal with her.
Last up is Ruukoto. I take a bet on her using the same Self-Destruct strategy as the last one.
The screen turns red and I'm proven entirely correct.
Between the halved FoAtk from darkness and her stellar defences, Kisume tanks the explosion with barely a scratch.
With that, she disappears without a trace.
Before heading through the door, however, MC-kun has somewhere else to go.
He's feeling peckish and starts grabbing whatever he can from the dining room and kitchens.
He also finds out that the fairies aren't even being paid - he'd call it a foreign concept, but people have been very reluctant to pay him lately too.
With that, it's time for a chat with Remilia.
The descendant of vampires who feeds on human's blood.Did you have fun wandering the mansion?
Well, I...
For his part, MC-kun is far too winded from all the walking to talk.Fufu, you look tired.You've made it this far. Let me heal you.
She does. Only having fought Sakuya since taking a nap, it doesn't do much, but it's the thought that counts. This game throws heals at you constantly.Huhu, now, it's time for the main event.You and your Puppets are fine now, so I'm gonna keep you around for just a bit longer.
It seems like it'll be fun to battle you.
Whether nor not you want to, you will be my opponent.
The time for words is over and the time for what is presumably our next boss has arrived.
She leads with Power Sakuya. At last, we're seeing Puppets over level 30 and hence some build diversity. Baka takes care of her easily enough to make me feel bad, however.
Yorihime switches in and gets one-shot, so it falls to Nue.
It's a close fight, but Nue takes the win.
Last up is something unusual: the Scarlet Avatar. I'm pretty sure it's the first named enemy Puppet we've seen in the game, and it brought a smile to my face after one of the fairy maids mentioned Remilia having a peculiar taste in Puppet names.
Keine switches in and almost falls to an attack that isn't even super-effective, but ultimately claims the victory for herself.
Oh, you're strong than I expected....Did you think I was fighting seriously?
Probably.
I was just killing time.It was fun, though. Let's play again if we have a chance.
You have my permission to come here whenever you please.
Come again.
Oh, I forgot to tell you.Your next fate is at Youkai Mountain.
Genbu Ravine, which is at the west of the lake, will lead you to the mountain.
I think you should be able to open the path for yourself from here.
So you've dispelled the invisible wall, then?
Your fate will change as much as you can.I haven't changed since high school, friendo.
...With this, we're sorted. Remilia, however, offers a new service.
Given my nicknaming skills, she's probably right. Still, she's this game's Name Rater and that means that, if you have any names for any of our Puppets, please give them to me.
Ever interested in girls' bedrooms, MC-kun takes a look. He finds the highest-quality thread (according to its description) lying on a table.
For once, however, he's prevented from using the bed, a sumptuous four-poster.
We'll end with a few skills learned by various Puppets.
Baka gets another powerhouse of a move.
Kisume gets the option for a javelin. It'd be a solid STAB move and I did complain earlier about the lack of a good option, but I leave it for now in favour of her current Dark type coverage.
Lastly, Keine picks up some actual Warped coverage. This will come in very helpful.
Did ya missed out Flandre bursting out her room ? She will have 2 scenes wandering around SDM dungeon(?) before returning to her room.
The difficulty takes off from here, though I think MC-kun has a solid party.
Not sure about Nue fitting in there, MC-kun can swap her out for Aya if he catches one.
The difficulty takes off from here, though I think MC-kun has a solid party.
Not sure about Nue fitting in there, MC-kun can swap her out for Aya if he catches one.
I must have missed the second Flandre scene; I definitely caught the first and included a screencap, but I apparently wasn't nearly as thorough as usual with the maze.
Edit: it's definitely good to hear that the difficulty will be scaling. So far, it's very much felt like it peaked with Miko and then never returned, with Reisen and Mokou seeming like the game was trying to get back on track before suddenly reverting.
Normal trainers won't really improve aside style change. Unique characters will vary.
While few uniques will let you beat her puppets up without much fuss, many like Remilia will switch a disadvantaged lead puppet for a resistant one and use priority moves if your puppets out speed theirs. Nearing endgame, you will see several 5-6 party puppeteers.
Reimu will always try to beat up MC-kun when she sees him.
While few uniques will let you beat her puppets up without much fuss, many like Remilia will switch a disadvantaged lead puppet for a resistant one and use priority moves if your puppets out speed theirs. Nearing endgame, you will see several 5-6 party puppeteers.
Reimu will always try to beat up MC-kun when she sees him.
Finally having access to the Name Rater, it's time to let Remi hand out some names.
For sticking around as long as she has, Kisume gets a name that seems suitable until I remember that deplorables are kept in a basket and not a bucket.
Yorihime still needs a name too; I can't think of a good Bob-ism for the job, so I'll put that out as a request.
Sakuya is now in the kitchens, without anything interesting to say. With that, it's probably time to leave the Mansion, even if I apparently missed a Flandre cutscene.
On the way out, MC-kun decides to check on the gatekeeper. He apparently wakes her from an unpleasant dream.
Look at the direction I'm walking, friendo.
The mist still surrounds the lake. MC-kun supposes that it must remind her of the wonderful Beijing smog.
With that, it's time to fight Meiling for no real reason.
She opens with Cirno. Baka is well-trained in this regard.
Next up is Meiling herself. Moon Wheat gets a chance to fight and gets immediately deleted by a crit due to a tragic misreading of the type chart.
Without realising my mistake, I send in Keine under the same misunderstanding and she somehow displays full immunity to an attack to which she should have a 4x weakness. Wonders never cease.
Meiling is apparently always this disappointing.
She also falls asleep upon an attempt at further conversation.
Keine's success in the face of overwhelming stupidity helps reaffirm MC-kun's convictions: in Gensokyo, there is (almost) no such thing as bad tactics. With that breakthrough, he heads back to Remilia.
Unfortunately, the ten-character limit won't permit even NoBadTactics, but that's her name in his heart.
Before heading towards the ravine, MC-kun decides to take a look at the presumable-shortcut he found earlier. There's at least one Puppeteer past the cliff, eager to fight and eat him.
It's another drop in level compared to Meiling and Nue and Yorihime do a clean job of tidying things.
Mess with the best, friendo, and you'll die like the rest.
MC-kun finds some jam lying in a tree stump and decides that he needs it for himself.
The delusions of fairies are infinite.
Baka misses her first attack and eats a crit, but it's to no avail.
The fairy guards a once-per-battle held item. I'll probably never use it.
With that, it's a short ride back to town. Auctioning off his junk, MC-kun's bank balance is starting to look pretty healthy, so he heads to the drapery. All the trainers on social media seem to field teams of shinies and he's not a little jealous.
Keine and Nue get a quick coat of spray paint.
The others, meanwhile, get something more drastic. Deplorable in particular is completely transformed.
With that, it's time to head to the ravine.
Instead of the invisible wall from earlier, there's just an ambush.
MC-kun is well aware of what Kappas do and is very happy to fight to preserve his anus.
Spamming priority attacks, Sunny lands a 3-damage crit, followed by a 1-damage regular hit. Deplorable is unimpressed.
Her other Puppet is a Nitori, who manages to do a fair chunk of damage to NoBadTactics before getting eliminated.
Optical camouflage seems like something out of the superior future. MC-kun immediately takes a rest to talk about how much he wants some on Twitter.
Amazingly, the fog clears up immediately after a few steps.
Do I know you, friendo?
It's the first fight of a new zone and, as always, it comes with art of its own. I like this ravine background a great deal. That aside, Moon Wheat and Yorihime take down the opposing Puppets without too much effort.
Without deigning to reply, MC-kun turns to more important business. Yorihime got level 30 and her style change.
Extra is out of the question. I'm torn between Power and Speed: the former keeps her good typing in a vicious brawler, while the latter turns her into more of a balls-to-the-wall sweeper. In the interest of my current team and also surviving more switch-ins, I choose Power. I'm sure I'll regret it if we ever get rid of Nue, but on the other hand it's very hard to be disappointed with the numbers in question almost regardless of pick, If nothing else, Power's substantial base HP buff will help make up for her awful IV, while she has a perfect FoAtk IV and a nature boosting Speed.
EVs are about what you'd expect from yet another focused attacker.
There's a whole world of new skills, across all types of gimmicks.
In the end, I focus on her ability. Sniper increases crit damage and The Ripper and Dancing Sword are both crit-fishing moves. Angel Ladder provides type coverage, while Clearing Mist is just a brutal attack against stronger Puppets.
With that, MC-kun heads deeper into the ravine. He pauses, out of breath, on some stairs and something swoops past. Something quickly reveals itself to be someone and lands beside him.
MC-kun starts to answer, but can't get a word in edgewise. The tengu just doesn't stop talking.
Aya then leaves, making me hope I'm right in being too lazy to make a portrait for her.
The map interconnects here, linking the Forest of Magic to the ravine. MC-kun is too fat to swim, however, so it's an avenue off-limits to him for now.
This Kappa is more interested in boasting than fighting.
This one, meanwhile, wants to adopt a technical style of fighting.
All he has is a Nitori, however, who makes good prey for our new Yorihime, who scores a crit on her very first hit.
MC-kun, still unbeaten, begs to differ.
For a moment, MC-kun wonders if it's time to reject humanity and embrace the Kappa. They have the technology to bring him to his superior future. Then he remembers that he's visited the human colony on the moon.
A Kappa presumes that MC-kun doesn't have every right to be here. Indignant, he furiously asks if she knows who he is.
Yorihime and Nue handle her team easily enough.
It's clear that he's not wanted here, but that only makes MC-kun more eager.
Soon enough, MC-kun comes to a cave near a waterfall.
The sort that goes deeper, apparently. MC-kun expertly falls down the ladder without dismounting his bike, letting his gunt absorb the impact.
There are plenty of Puppeteers standing around in the cave. Some are less alive than others.
The ghost continues their theme of death-related Puppets, but still proves no match for Deplorable.
MC-kun isn't about to offer directions. It's not that he's lost, of course; he's just torn when considering a ghost between the obsolescence of the deceased and the most reliable class of voter for policies he favours.
The Kappa assumes that anyone running around in a cave must be as crazy as him. He's probably right.
Baka and Nue handle Wakasagihime and Nitori before we reach the novelty.
With all the fuss about engineering and invention we've seen with Kappas, it's hardly surprising to see one using a Puppet with a tank. As always, the PC-98hus are pretty well-integrated.
Doesn't save it from Moon Wheat, however.
MC-kun wonders why he can't steal the laser tank.
The item behind the ghost was a TM, which has the common trait of seeming more potentially useful in competitive than it regular gameplay.
The next Kappa isn't paying much attention to MC-kun as he approaches.
She notices him quickly enough and asks for assistance. As a sworn enemy of the Puppet Liberation Front, he's in.
MC-kun doesn't remember anything about that, but a chance to ensure that he isn't separated from Baka means that he won't miss the opportunity.
One fade-to-black later and we're there.
It's a new town, out of the caves but within the ravine.
Fortunately, there's a resting spot right by the pier. The merchant inside doesn't sell anything interesting.
There's a telescope just lying around in the village. MC-kun takes it for himself.
The PLF fairy guarding the door is unco-operative.
Others are more aggressive and present an actual chance to beat them.
She's not accomplishing anything with just a Lily.
As often seems to be the case, she doesn't seem all that invested in the cause.
Not a reference I was expecting, but it does set the tone.
This one seems to have missed the point.
Still, NoBadTactics is happy to help with some liberation.
MC-kun is completely unfamiliar with the concept, having worked out of his basement apartment for many years before being transported to Gensokyo.
Diligent fairies keep the doors sealed.
This is beginning to sound like a pyramid scheme.
Nue still liberates a Daiyousei, however, while Baka will always be the only one qualified to free her imitators.
The fairy dutifully follows Nuzlocke rules.
I don't envy this guard.
It is the one thing worse than a wasteland ghoul. It is, and may Anita forgive me for saying this word, a weeaboo.
Nue cuts her way through two familiar grunt Puppets.
Hina is new, but doesn't get a chance to spin as Yorihime does her thing.
Fortunately, there's no reason to listen to her any further.
Finally a fairy who actually seems to remember what the PLF is doing.
She doesn't put up much more of a fight than those that came before, however.
The fairy cries out in pain as she strikes you.
From there, it's only a short while before MC-kun stumbles upon the ringleaders.
Boasting while two steps from the door doesn't seem very bright, but their troops have taken over the whole hideout.
Fairies actually succeeding at something is pretty surprising.
MC-kun quickly tires of paying any attention and heads to Twitter as they natter away in the background.
Having plotted aloud in the middle of a village, the fairies make use of their optical camouflage and vanish.
After taking a look at the backhoe outside and failing to work up the courage to take a long walk off a short pier, MC-kun decides to take a look inside the building that the fairies were raiding.
He's caught the moment he steps into what appears to be a workshop.
The inhabitant is yet another Kappa, but this one is important enough to have her own portrait.
I assure you, milady. I'm here for the future! I'm not a wasteland ghoul.
But I didn't steal anything.
Nitori, at the very least, has better Puppets than the fairies. Defence Hina demonstrates that pure Poison is a very solid defensive typing. Only one weakness, one immunity and a slew of resistances. Yorihime is similarly strong defensively against her, at least, but can't really respond as Hina does her job and lays out an entry hazard.
She does almost nothing against 140 base FoDef with the wrong type of move as the hazards continue to accrue.
For the first time in ages, it feels like the game is playing sensibly against me. Hina dodges what would likely have been lethal damage to switch out to a Defence Chiyuri, who is immune and, indeed, buffed by the attack. The fight turns real as Chiyuri lands five hits with a super-effective priority move and barely manages to down Yorihime.
At this point, Deplorable decides that two can play at the same game. She eats the status equivalent on switch-in with the full knowledge that she can Continue it away if it ever gets serious and lays an entry hazard of her own. A shame it won't do much to the opposing team.
Soon enough, the fight starts to go as you'd expect from a war of tank attrition.
Chiyuri chips away at Deplorable, but is eventually overcome by her burns.
Debuffs are traded and the waiting game begins.
Eventually, with Continue failing for reasons that I don't really understand, Moon Wheat takes Deplorable's place. She eats the heavy poison and an attack, but knows that she'll just have to wait a little while longer.
At last, Nitori's burns take care of her while Hina seems to survive the entry hazard with a single point of HP.
Protected from status by Moon Wheat, NoBadTactics shows up to finish the fight.
MC-kun is highly offended at the implication that he's a fairy. He benches over 300lb, after all.
Nitori notices soon enough.
Entirely defensible mistake, pal. Now why don't you give me some of that optical camouflage?
Instead, Nitori sits MC-kun down for a chat.
That's the long and short of it. Now, can I have some of the future I deserve?
MC-kun is thrilled. It's a roundabout way to get himself some camou.
I'm in, milady.
Nitori fetches something and walks over to MC-kun.
It looks a little insubstantial. He's not sure it'll take his weight.
Standard tutorial blather.
If it can bear his weight.
With that reasonably cryptic advice, Nitori is finished talking. MC-kun, however, is already back on Twitter, arguing with players of various shipgirl gachas as to why he's now the best mariner.
On his way out, he stops to steal a drink. Then it's time to step out of the workshop.
At this point, the PLF fairies have abandoned the village and the Kappas have returned to their hideout.
MC-kun pauses to tip his fedora alongside a Kappa sceptical about the heart of the cards.
Others take it a little further. MC-kun is fine with this, of course, although he'd prefer if they were Chinese.
This might be the most sensible one of the lot. MC-kun, after all, is here to break into houses and rob them blind now that the PLF are no longer blocking the doors.
No! Nuclear is the power of the devil! Go green!
As if to vindicate himself, he steals a TM for some wind power.
I'm sure OnlyFans will be thrilled.
Turns out that the boat can in fact bear MC-kun's weight, a fact which he exploits to its fullest for further looting.
Living in an idyllic house in the middle of the lake, this Kappa isn't particularly interesting.
This is in a shed locked off by water. Doesn't seem too useful.
Uninterested in fighting as the Kappa within might be, he's got an infestation of alcoholics in one of the barrels outside his house.
Baka lets us catch one easily enough.
Some solid IVs and a typing we're lacking, but she's not really needed and Yorihime does now cover fighting.
We also end up with Moon Wheat ready for a style change. I'm undecided on this one.
I don't think Extra is the right call.
That's it for now. MC-kun has saved a village from the evil Puppet Liberation Front and won himself a boat. Next up, it's time to make use of it.
I need a name for Yorihime and a style for Moon Wheat.
For sticking around as long as she has, Kisume gets a name that seems suitable until I remember that deplorables are kept in a basket and not a bucket.
Yorihime still needs a name too; I can't think of a good Bob-ism for the job, so I'll put that out as a request.
Sakuya is now in the kitchens, without anything interesting to say. With that, it's probably time to leave the Mansion, even if I apparently missed a Flandre cutscene.
On the way out, MC-kun decides to check on the gatekeeper. He apparently wakes her from an unpleasant dream.
Look at the direction I'm walking, friendo.
The mist still surrounds the lake. MC-kun supposes that it must remind her of the wonderful Beijing smog.
With that, it's time to fight Meiling for no real reason.
She opens with Cirno. Baka is well-trained in this regard.
Next up is Meiling herself. Moon Wheat gets a chance to fight and gets immediately deleted by a crit due to a tragic misreading of the type chart.
Without realising my mistake, I send in Keine under the same misunderstanding and she somehow displays full immunity to an attack to which she should have a 4x weakness. Wonders never cease.
Meiling is apparently always this disappointing.
She also falls asleep upon an attempt at further conversation.
Keine's success in the face of overwhelming stupidity helps reaffirm MC-kun's convictions: in Gensokyo, there is (almost) no such thing as bad tactics. With that breakthrough, he heads back to Remilia.
Unfortunately, the ten-character limit won't permit even NoBadTactics, but that's her name in his heart.
Before heading towards the ravine, MC-kun decides to take a look at the presumable-shortcut he found earlier. There's at least one Puppeteer past the cliff, eager to fight and eat him.
It's another drop in level compared to Meiling and Nue and Yorihime do a clean job of tidying things.
Mess with the best, friendo, and you'll die like the rest.
MC-kun finds some jam lying in a tree stump and decides that he needs it for himself.
The delusions of fairies are infinite.
Baka misses her first attack and eats a crit, but it's to no avail.
The fairy guards a once-per-battle held item. I'll probably never use it.
With that, it's a short ride back to town. Auctioning off his junk, MC-kun's bank balance is starting to look pretty healthy, so he heads to the drapery. All the trainers on social media seem to field teams of shinies and he's not a little jealous.
Keine and Nue get a quick coat of spray paint.
The others, meanwhile, get something more drastic. Deplorable in particular is completely transformed.
With that, it's time to head to the ravine.
Instead of the invisible wall from earlier, there's just an ambush.
MC-kun is well aware of what Kappas do and is very happy to fight to preserve his anus.
Spamming priority attacks, Sunny lands a 3-damage crit, followed by a 1-damage regular hit. Deplorable is unimpressed.
Her other Puppet is a Nitori, who manages to do a fair chunk of damage to NoBadTactics before getting eliminated.
Optical camouflage seems like something out of the superior future. MC-kun immediately takes a rest to talk about how much he wants some on Twitter.
Amazingly, the fog clears up immediately after a few steps.
Do I know you, friendo?
It's the first fight of a new zone and, as always, it comes with art of its own. I like this ravine background a great deal. That aside, Moon Wheat and Yorihime take down the opposing Puppets without too much effort.
Without deigning to reply, MC-kun turns to more important business. Yorihime got level 30 and her style change.
Extra is out of the question. I'm torn between Power and Speed: the former keeps her good typing in a vicious brawler, while the latter turns her into more of a balls-to-the-wall sweeper. In the interest of my current team and also surviving more switch-ins, I choose Power. I'm sure I'll regret it if we ever get rid of Nue, but on the other hand it's very hard to be disappointed with the numbers in question almost regardless of pick, If nothing else, Power's substantial base HP buff will help make up for her awful IV, while she has a perfect FoAtk IV and a nature boosting Speed.
EVs are about what you'd expect from yet another focused attacker.
There's a whole world of new skills, across all types of gimmicks.
In the end, I focus on her ability. Sniper increases crit damage and The Ripper and Dancing Sword are both crit-fishing moves. Angel Ladder provides type coverage, while Clearing Mist is just a brutal attack against stronger Puppets.
With that, MC-kun heads deeper into the ravine. He pauses, out of breath, on some stairs and something swoops past. Something quickly reveals itself to be someone and lands beside him.
MC-kun starts to answer, but can't get a word in edgewise. The tengu just doesn't stop talking.
Aya then leaves, making me hope I'm right in being too lazy to make a portrait for her.
The map interconnects here, linking the Forest of Magic to the ravine. MC-kun is too fat to swim, however, so it's an avenue off-limits to him for now.
This Kappa is more interested in boasting than fighting.
This one, meanwhile, wants to adopt a technical style of fighting.
All he has is a Nitori, however, who makes good prey for our new Yorihime, who scores a crit on her very first hit.
MC-kun, still unbeaten, begs to differ.
For a moment, MC-kun wonders if it's time to reject humanity and embrace the Kappa. They have the technology to bring him to his superior future. Then he remembers that he's visited the human colony on the moon.
A Kappa presumes that MC-kun doesn't have every right to be here. Indignant, he furiously asks if she knows who he is.
Yorihime and Nue handle her team easily enough.
It's clear that he's not wanted here, but that only makes MC-kun more eager.
Soon enough, MC-kun comes to a cave near a waterfall.
The sort that goes deeper, apparently. MC-kun expertly falls down the ladder without dismounting his bike, letting his gunt absorb the impact.
There are plenty of Puppeteers standing around in the cave. Some are less alive than others.
The ghost continues their theme of death-related Puppets, but still proves no match for Deplorable.
MC-kun isn't about to offer directions. It's not that he's lost, of course; he's just torn when considering a ghost between the obsolescence of the deceased and the most reliable class of voter for policies he favours.
The Kappa assumes that anyone running around in a cave must be as crazy as him. He's probably right.
Baka and Nue handle Wakasagihime and Nitori before we reach the novelty.
With all the fuss about engineering and invention we've seen with Kappas, it's hardly surprising to see one using a Puppet with a tank. As always, the PC-98hus are pretty well-integrated.
Doesn't save it from Moon Wheat, however.
MC-kun wonders why he can't steal the laser tank.
The item behind the ghost was a TM, which has the common trait of seeming more potentially useful in competitive than it regular gameplay.
The next Kappa isn't paying much attention to MC-kun as he approaches.
She notices him quickly enough and asks for assistance. As a sworn enemy of the Puppet Liberation Front, he's in.
MC-kun doesn't remember anything about that, but a chance to ensure that he isn't separated from Baka means that he won't miss the opportunity.
One fade-to-black later and we're there.
It's a new town, out of the caves but within the ravine.
Fortunately, there's a resting spot right by the pier. The merchant inside doesn't sell anything interesting.
There's a telescope just lying around in the village. MC-kun takes it for himself.
The PLF fairy guarding the door is unco-operative.
Others are more aggressive and present an actual chance to beat them.
She's not accomplishing anything with just a Lily.
As often seems to be the case, she doesn't seem all that invested in the cause.
Not a reference I was expecting, but it does set the tone.
This one seems to have missed the point.
Still, NoBadTactics is happy to help with some liberation.
MC-kun is completely unfamiliar with the concept, having worked out of his basement apartment for many years before being transported to Gensokyo.
Diligent fairies keep the doors sealed.
This is beginning to sound like a pyramid scheme.
Nue still liberates a Daiyousei, however, while Baka will always be the only one qualified to free her imitators.
The fairy dutifully follows Nuzlocke rules.
I don't envy this guard.
It is the one thing worse than a wasteland ghoul. It is, and may Anita forgive me for saying this word, a weeaboo.
Nue cuts her way through two familiar grunt Puppets.
Hina is new, but doesn't get a chance to spin as Yorihime does her thing.
Fortunately, there's no reason to listen to her any further.
Finally a fairy who actually seems to remember what the PLF is doing.
She doesn't put up much more of a fight than those that came before, however.
The fairy cries out in pain as she strikes you.
From there, it's only a short while before MC-kun stumbles upon the ringleaders.
Boasting while two steps from the door doesn't seem very bright, but their troops have taken over the whole hideout.
Fairies actually succeeding at something is pretty surprising.
MC-kun quickly tires of paying any attention and heads to Twitter as they natter away in the background.
Having plotted aloud in the middle of a village, the fairies make use of their optical camouflage and vanish.
After taking a look at the backhoe outside and failing to work up the courage to take a long walk off a short pier, MC-kun decides to take a look inside the building that the fairies were raiding.
He's caught the moment he steps into what appears to be a workshop.
The inhabitant is yet another Kappa, but this one is important enough to have her own portrait.
I assure you, milady. I'm here for the future! I'm not a wasteland ghoul.
But I didn't steal anything.
Nitori, at the very least, has better Puppets than the fairies. Defence Hina demonstrates that pure Poison is a very solid defensive typing. Only one weakness, one immunity and a slew of resistances. Yorihime is similarly strong defensively against her, at least, but can't really respond as Hina does her job and lays out an entry hazard.
She does almost nothing against 140 base FoDef with the wrong type of move as the hazards continue to accrue.
For the first time in ages, it feels like the game is playing sensibly against me. Hina dodges what would likely have been lethal damage to switch out to a Defence Chiyuri, who is immune and, indeed, buffed by the attack. The fight turns real as Chiyuri lands five hits with a super-effective priority move and barely manages to down Yorihime.
At this point, Deplorable decides that two can play at the same game. She eats the status equivalent on switch-in with the full knowledge that she can Continue it away if it ever gets serious and lays an entry hazard of her own. A shame it won't do much to the opposing team.
Soon enough, the fight starts to go as you'd expect from a war of tank attrition.
Chiyuri chips away at Deplorable, but is eventually overcome by her burns.
Debuffs are traded and the waiting game begins.
Eventually, with Continue failing for reasons that I don't really understand, Moon Wheat takes Deplorable's place. She eats the heavy poison and an attack, but knows that she'll just have to wait a little while longer.
At last, Nitori's burns take care of her while Hina seems to survive the entry hazard with a single point of HP.
Protected from status by Moon Wheat, NoBadTactics shows up to finish the fight.
MC-kun is highly offended at the implication that he's a fairy. He benches over 300lb, after all.
Nitori notices soon enough.
Entirely defensible mistake, pal. Now why don't you give me some of that optical camouflage?Instead, Nitori sits MC-kun down for a chat.
That's the long and short of it. Now, can I have some of the future I deserve?
MC-kun is thrilled. It's a roundabout way to get himself some camou.
I'm in, milady.Nitori fetches something and walks over to MC-kun.
It looks a little insubstantial. He's not sure it'll take his weight.
Standard tutorial blather.
If it can bear his weight.
With that reasonably cryptic advice, Nitori is finished talking. MC-kun, however, is already back on Twitter, arguing with players of various shipgirl gachas as to why he's now the best mariner.
On his way out, he stops to steal a drink. Then it's time to step out of the workshop.
At this point, the PLF fairies have abandoned the village and the Kappas have returned to their hideout.
MC-kun pauses to tip his fedora alongside a Kappa sceptical about the heart of the cards.
Others take it a little further. MC-kun is fine with this, of course, although he'd prefer if they were Chinese.
This might be the most sensible one of the lot. MC-kun, after all, is here to break into houses and rob them blind now that the PLF are no longer blocking the doors.
No! Nuclear is the power of the devil! Go green!
As if to vindicate himself, he steals a TM for some wind power.
I'm sure OnlyFans will be thrilled.
Turns out that the boat can in fact bear MC-kun's weight, a fact which he exploits to its fullest for further looting.
Living in an idyllic house in the middle of the lake, this Kappa isn't particularly interesting.
This is in a shed locked off by water. Doesn't seem too useful.
Uninterested in fighting as the Kappa within might be, he's got an infestation of alcoholics in one of the barrels outside his house.
Baka lets us catch one easily enough.
Some solid IVs and a typing we're lacking, but she's not really needed and Yorihime does now cover fighting.
I don't think Extra is the right call.
I need a name for Yorihime and a style for Moon Wheat.
Attachments
Continue works best for puppets with Economist, carrying curing charm.
Power Toyo I guess. Defense gets a heal and rounded stats while power gets wind moves which checks a lot of future encounters with sound or fighting. Both are a bit slow , but good bulk.
Godhotline for yorihime.
Power Toyo I guess. Defense gets a heal and rounded stats while power gets wind moves which checks a lot of future encounters with sound or fighting. Both are a bit slow , but good bulk.
Godhotline for yorihime.
This was initially going to be a short update with the things unlocked now that we have a boat, but it turns out that there are a huge number of things you can do with a boat, so the "short" descriptor has been dropped.
It's been many years since I last played a mainline Pokémon game; are these large side areas standard - I remember things being a lot more linear.
We start off preparing Moon Wheat for her role in the party going forward.
As requested, we go with power.
A broad range of moves, but not many attacks and, moreover, fewer useful ones. However, between these options and TMs, I think the end result is pretty versatile.
I'm always least confident when it comes to EVs and boosting up the defence stats might have added more to survivability, but what's done is done.
Yorihime also gets herself a name at long last.
With that, we have a boat and will travel, so the game has opened up a fair bit in my estimation, judging by all the places blocked off by water in the past. MC-kun was told to look for the tengu village, but he's got far more important things to do.
Although the Misty Lake is large, it's also mostly featureless. There does, however, appear to be a single cave somewhere within.
The temperature drops sharps as MC-kun enters.
The wild encounters also track with what we've seen before, so the developers were apparently sane and anticipated this kind of exploration. More importantly, however, MC-kun immediately runs into this. A bunch of floating eyeballs from the very first Touhou game.
There's no way that what is probably the weirdest Puppet in the game could be ignored.
Nothing spectacular, but both nature and IVs favour sweep attack.
That aside, the cave contains what is almost certainly a very familiar kind of ice puzzle. MC-kun turns to Twitter and he lets Baka push him around the maze.
His reward is a TM and a barrier for now.
There's also some exploring to do in Route 5, with the river now providing a very convenient shortcut through much of the zone.
Finding a charm reminds MC-kun to give something a try: Haste Charm might not have much of a use case for him at the moment, but he's had a Curing Charm sitting around for ages and it might actually work with Continue. I'd assumed it wouldn't, because Gamefreak has never allowed you to cheat Rest like that, but I'm told that it does, so Deplorable might get even more disgusting. Unfortunately, Economist, which lets you use once-per-battle items repeatedly, is almost the signature ability of the Reimu line, so it's not available here.
With that, it's back to Route 1, where even a boat can't shortcut us past the breakable rock.
It does, however, get us a TM. It's the first sound-type move we've seen all game (for us, at least) and it seems pretty solid for a spread-attacker, but none of our Puppets can learn it.
There's more to be found on the route, though. This goes to ToTheMoon, as MC-kun's only user of draining moves.
Soon enough, MC-kun is all the way back to the Hakurei Shrine, where he attempts to harass a turtle in the pond, to no avail.
Stepping onto the grass, MC-kun immediately encounters a Reimu. While she's not immediately useful, I've just mentioned that she's probably the best Continue-spammer, so she gets caught regardless.
IVs are hot garbage, but at least she's got a good nature for a tank.
Unfortunately, the item that's been sitting tantalisingly out of reach since the start of the game turns out merely to be a max revive.
There's a new face about the shrine. MC-kun isn't paying much attention as she talks, though; she manages to sound even more like a teacher than Keine and he's overwhelmed with flashbacks to high-school as she talks away with a lecturer's cadence.
Can't you talk like a normal human being?
Strange resonance with the thoughts of a trainer far away aside, MC-kun's comment is more relevant to Kasen than he might think.
No! The Segadrones are attacking!
For Mario! Charge!
Seems Sanae has also grown bored with taking care of the shrine, leaving just a perfectly normal and lazy human being to take care of it.
Next up for backtracking is Route 3.
There's a TM to be found in the Myouren Temple. 150 power is a big number, but I don't think it works with the Haste Charm and it only has 5 PP. What makes it interesting, however, is that Baka is our only Puppet capable of learning it. Given that she's already overpowered, it might be worth giving her some absurd spike potential, but I can't decide on what to replace for now.
Onwards to the Divine Spirit Mausoleum and it's another item that was visible right near the start. Yorihime can learn it; it's more accurate and has 20 more power than her current wind move, but only a 10% chance to flinch instead of 30%. Given how seldom enemies survive more than a single attack, I teach it to her.
With that, it's back to Route 4, where there's an item right by the entrance. No-one can learn it.
Further along is this. I've discussed the Steel version in the past and the same applies here, although I don't teach it to anyone.
At that point in the loop, I decide to check, yet again, on the empty shack in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. This time, at last, someone is home.
Mokou is ready for a rematch.
Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have levelled her team at all since the last bout.
Moon Wheat makes a good first impression after her style change against Keine. She's afflicted with weakness, but, lacking any healing skills, it's not relevant to her.
Power Mokou is next and, despite being only one level lower and having a style change of her own, she's one-hit by our Wind move picked up at the start of the route.
Last is a Sumireko, who simply can't handle Godhotline.
Mokou is pretty chipper about her defeat. MC-kun, meanwhile, is already wondering if there's more to be found in Eientei.
At the very least, there's a pond for some mucking about with boats.
Eirin is back in her office but doesn't have anything interesting to say; it's a proper medical Pokémon centre now.
Kaguya, meanwhile, has calmed down and settled in for a drink when MC-kun interrupts her.
Wouldn't you rather talk about the evils of Gamergate?
It's the happiest MC-kun has been since he met Baka. He whines Kaguya's ear off about the evils of the greatest tragedy of the twenty-first century until she grows bored.
So anyway, at that stage the Escapist Magazine started shedding all of its best journalists. In particular, there was this heroic movie reviewer...
Kaguya decides that the time has come for less talking and more fighting. We don't often see Puppeteers with more than three Puppets, so it looks for a moment like there might be a chance for a good fight.
Unfortunately, her Puppets seem to be an equal match to Mokou's. Probably wouldn't have been an overly difficult fight even when we were first here.
Deplorable tanks through everything Tewi has to offer - two priorty hits and a flinch - before the rabbit's luck runs out and she takes a hit.
Power Eirin exacts a steep price on NoBadTactics for her victory. At least it isn't wholly one-sided.
With that, it's back to Deplorable to face off against Power Kaguya. I experiment with Curing Charm and Rest and, indeed, it works.
Unfortunately, that means that the charm isn't around when Kaguya lands a status effect immediately afterwards. She takes a few hits and hangs on with 1 HP, but the level gap is insurmountable and Deplorable is faster.
Last up is Udonge, too underlevelled for a style change.
Now having beaten two immortals, MC-kun assumes that there's nothing more to do around the Bamboo Forest for now.
Before continuing the backtracking, MC-kun checks in with Akyuu in the Human Village. She does actually have some hint dialogue to keep him on track, which he ignores completely.
The boat gives MC-kun a glimpse at this mystery item, surrounded on three sides by water that won't let him get to the actual angle of approach.
Other parts of the stream-ridden Route 5 open up, however. There's a Rare Candy to be found in a tree stump on a small island and another just off the main path, accessible only through a circuitous boat route.
A high-quality Sealing Thread in some blue grass.
There's also a lonely hut set into the woods, just off the river on what must be the very edge of the map.
Inside, someone has just left a TM lying around. My experience with the Dark equivalent of this move tells me that opponents with items are rare, at least at this point in the game.
With that, the backtracking journey takes MC-kun to Rinnosuke, who has the one-use type-boosting items for every type in stock, and then into the Forest of Magic.
Where before exploration was stopped by water, now unbreakable rocks prevent movement, although the presence of an item out of reach says that there will be a reason to revisit at some later date.
A new Puppeteer battle means a new area, unless I was wholly negligent while exploring.
The presence of a level 28 Daiyousei suggests that this is a new area, although unfortunately one that still matches the level of fighting Mokou many updates ago.
Her subtlety leads MC-kun straight to a high-damage Poison-type move that only Deplorable can learn and of which she couldn't make good use at all.
Alice shrugs off MC-kun now that he's done bothering other magicians for her. He's no stranger to being used by women, however, and so shrugs it off and only cries a little.
The forest is a maze. Getting to this fairy doesn't require the boat at all.
And, sure enough, it turns out that I just wasn't thorough when exploring before.
Well, Puppets are immortal, heal fully upon resting and cause endless trouble. Maybe, now that we know that they aren't a magician's fault, this fairy is onto something.
All she guards, however, is a charm. Given how often I throw NoBadTactics against Poison-types and get her into trouble, it might be worth considering giving it to her.
Through all of this, I can't find where the Genbu Ravine shortcut to the Forest would lead, so it's off to that.
A short hop later and we might be in virgin territory.
This is seemingly confirmed by a new fight.
With a level 29 Waggysaggy, no less.
The fairy is as annoyingly cheerful in defeat as in battle.
She's also not alone in that attitude.
Her first Puppet was a Daiyousei, taken down by Godhotline. I forgot to take a screencap.
Local fairy not so cheerful after being beaten.
MC-kun steals her drugs.
Further along is another hungry, hungry youkai.
Godhotline easily handles a Banki.
Time to get lost, then.
Trudging through some mud too think for cycling, MC-kun runs into someone revelling in it. Imagine the smell.
MC-kun displays more variety than her in the fight, although I do have to admit that the detailing on the Hina sprite is very nice. I didn't see it spin, though.
MC-kun does just that, leaving the youkai to her mud.
The stream of battles doesn't abate, however.
NoBadTactics is unleashed upon the enemy and does her thing.
All she's guarding is a loop back to the start.
The Kappa isn't pleased with the smell of the forest.
I don't think we've seen a Rikako before, but she definitely fits the Kappa archetype. Moon Wheat is able to take care of her and Nitori without difficulty.
Doesn't smell nearly as bad as my basement apartment, friendo.
Past the Kappa is a vine-wreathed cottage in the woods.
The interior is strewn with books. MC-kun, a regular Goldilocks, sleeps in the owner's bed to assert dominance. Here he's definitely happy to breathe in the scents of the place. With no-one home, even in the back room which appears to be a study, MC-kun sets off on his way.
There are some psilocybins to be harvested just outside. At this point, I decide that this is probably the critical path given how much new content there is and head back to the Ravine to see what can be done with a boat.
No special effects, just a solid hit. I explore the Ravine a little more, enough to see that it looks like the Forest is indeed a side area. Back there, then.
This?
Now we'll never know.
Perhaps she was asking if MC-kun knew about the TM just beyond her. It's a strict upgrade for Baka's Nature-type move, so she learns it.
Even the ghosts can't find their way around the forest. Can MC-kun be blamed for getting lost?
The ghost has a poltergeist, which can't stand up to Moon Wheat.
There's an exit from the Forest here, blocked by breakable rocks. Looks like we'll have to return again some day.
There's some loot to be found for those who can sail.
What did she mean by this?
This time it's MC-kun who displays less variety than a Kappa, with NoBadTactics taking down Nitori and Rika while ToTheMoon eliminates Wakasagihime.
Maybe, friendo.
Beyond the Kappa is a TM. This seems pretty solid, given that I'm usually too lazy to hand out items, but only NoBadTactics is eligible. Just to get some Nether type coverage, in case it ever becomes important, I teach it to her and steal her item; it's better suited to Godhotline at this point in any event.
Some of the mushrooms are just lying around in the open.
Good to know.
Another poltergeist for another ghost. ToTheMoon actually heals herself fully thanks to the drain of her attack after that despite eating a super-effective sound attack.
This isn't Pokemon Wack. He doesn't disappear.
Far to the east, another fairy accosts MC-kun in the depths of the swamp.
She has two copies of Cirno. Baka makes good use of her new skill.
I'm here for the phat lewt, pal.
Sure enough, there's a TM a little bit further, albeit not one currently useful to us: Deplorable is the only one who can learn it.
With that, it's across a bridge to reach the southern forest from another angle.
These two ghosts are chatting when interrupted by MC-kun, so it's fully believable that they're friends.
NoBadTactics immediately uses her new skill to deal with a ghost.
Sorry, friendo. You don't seem like enough of a nonce to be one of my friends.
This time, it's ToTheMoon on poltergeist extermination duty.
Sometimes even the mushrooms growing on tree trunks are lootable. It's certainly a bit of a pain checking every one.
No.
ToTheMoon takes down a Marisa and that's that. Baka is protected.
She apparently tried sealing ToTheMoon during battle.
MC-kun is not about to let this slide. He's pretty sure that he has the only Twitter account in Gensokyo, so cancellation is regrettably not an option, but he'll be damned if he won't unleash his righteous fury all over Twitter towards those who would wrong him. Dozens of Tweets later and he's left seething and decides that it's time to go.
Even in Puppet form, Marisa is an efficient thief. The mushroom collector is entirely wrong, though; she's on the same screen as this, obscured by the text box.
A little further down the road is a battle junkie.
She's packing some power. They're only level 27, but both Ran and Mamizou are cost 120, a fact of which Godhotline eagerly takes advantage to throw out a power 120 Clearing Mist.
She's lost, but she's still had her fighting fix.
The mud is indeed annoying; you can't cycle in it.
No need to dodge, however, if you can take down your enemy with a single blow, as Godhotline demonstrates.
Nor, as ToTheMoon then shows, if you immediately heal back all the damage dealt.
It's a strange place to see a rabbit youkai too, really. They're mostly concentrated around the Bamboo Forest, rather than the Forest of Magic.
Godhotline eats a crit but does her thing regardless.
Watch your tongue, pal.
After the fight, the path finally comes to a dead end, complete with TM, leaving the rest of the southern forest for exploration.
I think this might be a fairy sprite I've not seen before.
She opens with two copies of Komachi, both of which do a number on NoBadTactics with priority water moves.
Then it's on to Komachi's boss. Eiki barely chips away at Moon Wheat before being felled.
Seems like it might be useful if we ever reach a stage in the game where enemies regularly survive more than one attack and I'm not constantly switching.
Unfortunately, the ever-ravenous MC-kun is not given a chance to accept the offer.
We've seen the Three Fairies of Light recently.
Knowing that they're off causing trouble in the Tengu Village and unable to retaliate, MC-kun steals their mushrooms.
Priority spam gets NoBadTactics to dangerously low HP before ToTheMoon arrives to finish the job.
Not a good time for the fairy here.
Much further down the path, everything spirals into a dead end, with an item at the centre. Not a terribly useful one at this stage, I'd say, although in being reusable it's at least better than berries in regular games.
This fairy doesn't want to fight; just to tell us how disgusting she is.
At long last, we reach the item dangled beyond us when first boating around the southern forest. It also brings access to a large waterway.
All that offers, however, is a single additional exit.
Getting here at all is quite the feat; MC-kun fully understands being lost while doing so.
It's more or less a perfect fight for Moon Wheat, as she triumphs over our first Kasen and also a Marisa.
All those who wander are not lost.
As this path too begins to spiral, MC-kun grabs a TM from an offshoot. It's not useful to anyone who can learn it - chiefly our focused attackers, Baka and Godhotline.
Finally, the spiral closes with a lake in the centre.
It hides an item which we, with zero Poison Puppets, cannot currently use productively at all. However, since I think I've pretty thoroughly explored the forest and from here it's off to the main path, this will be the end of the update after a brief note of the skills acquired through levelling.
Baka got Pollen mist. We acquired the TM within the episode and my commentary on that stands: it'd be useful if she were a spread attacker.
ToTheMoon gets a straight upgrade on Mysterious Flare and takes it with gusto.
Deplorable picks up something that doesn't help her hyperspecialised kit.
Godhotline gets an option that would be pretty interesting if it were focused and not spread.
Lastly, NoBadTactics gets a priority option about which I don't care.
As requested, we go with power.
A broad range of moves, but not many attacks and, moreover, fewer useful ones. However, between these options and TMs, I think the end result is pretty versatile.
I'm always least confident when it comes to EVs and boosting up the defence stats might have added more to survivability, but what's done is done.
Yorihime also gets herself a name at long last.
With that, we have a boat and will travel, so the game has opened up a fair bit in my estimation, judging by all the places blocked off by water in the past. MC-kun was told to look for the tengu village, but he's got far more important things to do.
Although the Misty Lake is large, it's also mostly featureless. There does, however, appear to be a single cave somewhere within.
The temperature drops sharps as MC-kun enters.
The wild encounters also track with what we've seen before, so the developers were apparently sane and anticipated this kind of exploration. More importantly, however, MC-kun immediately runs into this. A bunch of floating eyeballs from the very first Touhou game.
There's no way that what is probably the weirdest Puppet in the game could be ignored.
Nothing spectacular, but both nature and IVs favour sweep attack.
That aside, the cave contains what is almost certainly a very familiar kind of ice puzzle. MC-kun turns to Twitter and he lets Baka push him around the maze.
His reward is a TM and a barrier for now.
There's also some exploring to do in Route 5, with the river now providing a very convenient shortcut through much of the zone.
Finding a charm reminds MC-kun to give something a try: Haste Charm might not have much of a use case for him at the moment, but he's had a Curing Charm sitting around for ages and it might actually work with Continue. I'd assumed it wouldn't, because Gamefreak has never allowed you to cheat Rest like that, but I'm told that it does, so Deplorable might get even more disgusting. Unfortunately, Economist, which lets you use once-per-battle items repeatedly, is almost the signature ability of the Reimu line, so it's not available here.
With that, it's back to Route 1, where even a boat can't shortcut us past the breakable rock.
It does, however, get us a TM. It's the first sound-type move we've seen all game (for us, at least) and it seems pretty solid for a spread-attacker, but none of our Puppets can learn it.
There's more to be found on the route, though. This goes to ToTheMoon, as MC-kun's only user of draining moves.
Soon enough, MC-kun is all the way back to the Hakurei Shrine, where he attempts to harass a turtle in the pond, to no avail.
Stepping onto the grass, MC-kun immediately encounters a Reimu. While she's not immediately useful, I've just mentioned that she's probably the best Continue-spammer, so she gets caught regardless.
IVs are hot garbage, but at least she's got a good nature for a tank.
Unfortunately, the item that's been sitting tantalisingly out of reach since the start of the game turns out merely to be a max revive.
There's a new face about the shrine. MC-kun isn't paying much attention as she talks, though; she manages to sound even more like a teacher than Keine and he's overwhelmed with flashbacks to high-school as she talks away with a lecturer's cadence.
Can't you talk like a normal human being?Strange resonance with the thoughts of a trainer far away aside, MC-kun's comment is more relevant to Kasen than he might think.
No! The Segadrones are attacking!
For Mario! Charge!
Seems Sanae has also grown bored with taking care of the shrine, leaving just a perfectly normal and lazy human being to take care of it.
Next up for backtracking is Route 3.
There's a TM to be found in the Myouren Temple. 150 power is a big number, but I don't think it works with the Haste Charm and it only has 5 PP. What makes it interesting, however, is that Baka is our only Puppet capable of learning it. Given that she's already overpowered, it might be worth giving her some absurd spike potential, but I can't decide on what to replace for now.
Onwards to the Divine Spirit Mausoleum and it's another item that was visible right near the start. Yorihime can learn it; it's more accurate and has 20 more power than her current wind move, but only a 10% chance to flinch instead of 30%. Given how seldom enemies survive more than a single attack, I teach it to her.
With that, it's back to Route 4, where there's an item right by the entrance. No-one can learn it.
Further along is this. I've discussed the Steel version in the past and the same applies here, although I don't teach it to anyone.
At that point in the loop, I decide to check, yet again, on the empty shack in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. This time, at last, someone is home.
Mokou is ready for a rematch.
Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have levelled her team at all since the last bout.
Moon Wheat makes a good first impression after her style change against Keine. She's afflicted with weakness, but, lacking any healing skills, it's not relevant to her.
Power Mokou is next and, despite being only one level lower and having a style change of her own, she's one-hit by our Wind move picked up at the start of the route.
Last is a Sumireko, who simply can't handle Godhotline.
Mokou is pretty chipper about her defeat. MC-kun, meanwhile, is already wondering if there's more to be found in Eientei.
At the very least, there's a pond for some mucking about with boats.
Eirin is back in her office but doesn't have anything interesting to say; it's a proper medical Pokémon centre now.
Kaguya, meanwhile, has calmed down and settled in for a drink when MC-kun interrupts her.
Wouldn't you rather talk about the evils of Gamergate?
It's the happiest MC-kun has been since he met Baka. He whines Kaguya's ear off about the evils of the greatest tragedy of the twenty-first century until she grows bored.
So anyway, at that stage the Escapist Magazine started shedding all of its best journalists. In particular, there was this heroic movie reviewer...
Kaguya decides that the time has come for less talking and more fighting. We don't often see Puppeteers with more than three Puppets, so it looks for a moment like there might be a chance for a good fight.
Unfortunately, her Puppets seem to be an equal match to Mokou's. Probably wouldn't have been an overly difficult fight even when we were first here.
Deplorable tanks through everything Tewi has to offer - two priorty hits and a flinch - before the rabbit's luck runs out and she takes a hit.
Power Eirin exacts a steep price on NoBadTactics for her victory. At least it isn't wholly one-sided.
With that, it's back to Deplorable to face off against Power Kaguya. I experiment with Curing Charm and Rest and, indeed, it works.
Unfortunately, that means that the charm isn't around when Kaguya lands a status effect immediately afterwards. She takes a few hits and hangs on with 1 HP, but the level gap is insurmountable and Deplorable is faster.
Last up is Udonge, too underlevelled for a style change.
Now having beaten two immortals, MC-kun assumes that there's nothing more to do around the Bamboo Forest for now.
Before continuing the backtracking, MC-kun checks in with Akyuu in the Human Village. She does actually have some hint dialogue to keep him on track, which he ignores completely.
The boat gives MC-kun a glimpse at this mystery item, surrounded on three sides by water that won't let him get to the actual angle of approach.
Other parts of the stream-ridden Route 5 open up, however. There's a Rare Candy to be found in a tree stump on a small island and another just off the main path, accessible only through a circuitous boat route.
A high-quality Sealing Thread in some blue grass.
There's also a lonely hut set into the woods, just off the river on what must be the very edge of the map.
Inside, someone has just left a TM lying around. My experience with the Dark equivalent of this move tells me that opponents with items are rare, at least at this point in the game.
With that, the backtracking journey takes MC-kun to Rinnosuke, who has the one-use type-boosting items for every type in stock, and then into the Forest of Magic.
Where before exploration was stopped by water, now unbreakable rocks prevent movement, although the presence of an item out of reach says that there will be a reason to revisit at some later date.
A new Puppeteer battle means a new area, unless I was wholly negligent while exploring.
The presence of a level 28 Daiyousei suggests that this is a new area, although unfortunately one that still matches the level of fighting Mokou many updates ago.
Her subtlety leads MC-kun straight to a high-damage Poison-type move that only Deplorable can learn and of which she couldn't make good use at all.
Alice shrugs off MC-kun now that he's done bothering other magicians for her. He's no stranger to being used by women, however, and so shrugs it off and only cries a little.
The forest is a maze. Getting to this fairy doesn't require the boat at all.
And, sure enough, it turns out that I just wasn't thorough when exploring before.
Well, Puppets are immortal, heal fully upon resting and cause endless trouble. Maybe, now that we know that they aren't a magician's fault, this fairy is onto something.
All she guards, however, is a charm. Given how often I throw NoBadTactics against Poison-types and get her into trouble, it might be worth considering giving it to her.
Through all of this, I can't find where the Genbu Ravine shortcut to the Forest would lead, so it's off to that.
A short hop later and we might be in virgin territory.
This is seemingly confirmed by a new fight.
With a level 29 Waggysaggy, no less.
The fairy is as annoyingly cheerful in defeat as in battle.
She's also not alone in that attitude.
Her first Puppet was a Daiyousei, taken down by Godhotline. I forgot to take a screencap.
Local fairy not so cheerful after being beaten.
MC-kun steals her drugs.
Further along is another hungry, hungry youkai.
Godhotline easily handles a Banki.
Time to get lost, then.
Trudging through some mud too think for cycling, MC-kun runs into someone revelling in it. Imagine the smell.
MC-kun displays more variety than her in the fight, although I do have to admit that the detailing on the Hina sprite is very nice. I didn't see it spin, though.
MC-kun does just that, leaving the youkai to her mud.
The stream of battles doesn't abate, however.
NoBadTactics is unleashed upon the enemy and does her thing.
All she's guarding is a loop back to the start.
The Kappa isn't pleased with the smell of the forest.
I don't think we've seen a Rikako before, but she definitely fits the Kappa archetype. Moon Wheat is able to take care of her and Nitori without difficulty.
Doesn't smell nearly as bad as my basement apartment, friendo.
Past the Kappa is a vine-wreathed cottage in the woods.
The interior is strewn with books. MC-kun, a regular Goldilocks, sleeps in the owner's bed to assert dominance. Here he's definitely happy to breathe in the scents of the place. With no-one home, even in the back room which appears to be a study, MC-kun sets off on his way.
There are some psilocybins to be harvested just outside. At this point, I decide that this is probably the critical path given how much new content there is and head back to the Ravine to see what can be done with a boat.
No special effects, just a solid hit. I explore the Ravine a little more, enough to see that it looks like the Forest is indeed a side area. Back there, then.
This?
Now we'll never know.
Perhaps she was asking if MC-kun knew about the TM just beyond her. It's a strict upgrade for Baka's Nature-type move, so she learns it.
Even the ghosts can't find their way around the forest. Can MC-kun be blamed for getting lost?
The ghost has a poltergeist, which can't stand up to Moon Wheat.
The ghost probably didn't have a happy story, but MC-kun doesn't know what Muenzuka is and wouldn't care if he did.
There's an exit from the Forest here, blocked by breakable rocks. Looks like we'll have to return again some day.
There's some loot to be found for those who can sail.
What did she mean by this?
This time it's MC-kun who displays less variety than a Kappa, with NoBadTactics taking down Nitori and Rika while ToTheMoon eliminates Wakasagihime.
Maybe, friendo.
Beyond the Kappa is a TM. This seems pretty solid, given that I'm usually too lazy to hand out items, but only NoBadTactics is eligible. Just to get some Nether type coverage, in case it ever becomes important, I teach it to her and steal her item; it's better suited to Godhotline at this point in any event.
Some of the mushrooms are just lying around in the open.
Good to know.
Another poltergeist for another ghost. ToTheMoon actually heals herself fully thanks to the drain of her attack after that despite eating a super-effective sound attack.
This isn't Pokemon Wack. He doesn't disappear.
Far to the east, another fairy accosts MC-kun in the depths of the swamp.
She has two copies of Cirno. Baka makes good use of her new skill.
I'm here for the phat lewt, pal.
Sure enough, there's a TM a little bit further, albeit not one currently useful to us: Deplorable is the only one who can learn it.
With that, it's across a bridge to reach the southern forest from another angle.
These two ghosts are chatting when interrupted by MC-kun, so it's fully believable that they're friends.
NoBadTactics immediately uses her new skill to deal with a ghost.
Sorry, friendo. You don't seem like enough of a nonce to be one of my friends.
This time, it's ToTheMoon on poltergeist extermination duty.
Sometimes even the mushrooms growing on tree trunks are lootable. It's certainly a bit of a pain checking every one.
No.
ToTheMoon takes down a Marisa and that's that. Baka is protected.
She apparently tried sealing ToTheMoon during battle.
MC-kun is not about to let this slide. He's pretty sure that he has the only Twitter account in Gensokyo, so cancellation is regrettably not an option, but he'll be damned if he won't unleash his righteous fury all over Twitter towards those who would wrong him. Dozens of Tweets later and he's left seething and decides that it's time to go.
Even in Puppet form, Marisa is an efficient thief. The mushroom collector is entirely wrong, though; she's on the same screen as this, obscured by the text box.
A little further down the road is a battle junkie.
She's packing some power. They're only level 27, but both Ran and Mamizou are cost 120, a fact of which Godhotline eagerly takes advantage to throw out a power 120 Clearing Mist.
She's lost, but she's still had her fighting fix.
The mud is indeed annoying; you can't cycle in it.
No need to dodge, however, if you can take down your enemy with a single blow, as Godhotline demonstrates.
Nor, as ToTheMoon then shows, if you immediately heal back all the damage dealt.
It's a strange place to see a rabbit youkai too, really. They're mostly concentrated around the Bamboo Forest, rather than the Forest of Magic.
Godhotline eats a crit but does her thing regardless.
Watch your tongue, pal.
After the fight, the path finally comes to a dead end, complete with TM, leaving the rest of the southern forest for exploration.
I think this might be a fairy sprite I've not seen before.
She opens with two copies of Komachi, both of which do a number on NoBadTactics with priority water moves.
Then it's on to Komachi's boss. Eiki barely chips away at Moon Wheat before being felled.
Seems like it might be useful if we ever reach a stage in the game where enemies regularly survive more than one attack and I'm not constantly switching.
Unfortunately, the ever-ravenous MC-kun is not given a chance to accept the offer.
We've seen the Three Fairies of Light recently.
Knowing that they're off causing trouble in the Tengu Village and unable to retaliate, MC-kun steals their mushrooms.
Priority spam gets NoBadTactics to dangerously low HP before ToTheMoon arrives to finish the job.
Not a good time for the fairy here.
Much further down the path, everything spirals into a dead end, with an item at the centre. Not a terribly useful one at this stage, I'd say, although in being reusable it's at least better than berries in regular games.
This fairy doesn't want to fight; just to tell us how disgusting she is.
At long last, we reach the item dangled beyond us when first boating around the southern forest. It also brings access to a large waterway.
All that offers, however, is a single additional exit.
Getting here at all is quite the feat; MC-kun fully understands being lost while doing so.
It's more or less a perfect fight for Moon Wheat, as she triumphs over our first Kasen and also a Marisa.
All those who wander are not lost.
As this path too begins to spiral, MC-kun grabs a TM from an offshoot. It's not useful to anyone who can learn it - chiefly our focused attackers, Baka and Godhotline.
Finally, the spiral closes with a lake in the centre.
It hides an item which we, with zero Poison Puppets, cannot currently use productively at all. However, since I think I've pretty thoroughly explored the forest and from here it's off to the main path, this will be the end of the update after a brief note of the skills acquired through levelling.
Baka got Pollen mist. We acquired the TM within the episode and my commentary on that stands: it'd be useful if she were a spread attacker.
ToTheMoon gets a straight upgrade on Mysterious Flare and takes it with gusto.
Deplorable picks up something that doesn't help her hyperspecialised kit.
Godhotline gets an option that would be pretty interesting if it were focused and not spread.
Lastly, NoBadTactics gets a priority option about which I don't care.
Attachments
EnemyStand
kiwifarms.net
It depends on the game. Most areas are fairly linear, but as the fans started asking for more complex environments the devs started to deliver. The various Vistory Roads, at least, became more challenging for the most part.
It's a long one today, due to trying to keep a fairly large zone in one episode.
Backtracking with the new boat concluded for now, it's time to return to the Genbu Ravine. Given that a river flows through the whole thing, only one bank has been available until now.
After picking up someone's abandoned dessert near the entrance, it's time to explore.
It doesn't take long until he's accosted by crazies.
She leads with an Iku. As a pure Electric type the Air Cushion ability, she has no weaknesses. Aside, that is, from being just over half Baka's level.
Godhotline versus Nitori is a more traditional fight.
Perhaps this was the rare Puppeteer who actually used items. I wouldn't know.
MC-kun interrupts the frolicking of a nearby fairy before heading into the cave.
She follows the area theme of priority spam, but it isn't enough.
Do I know you?
A kappa guards some stairs right by the cave entrance.
Godhotline continues to prove a suitable response to the locals.
A yama-warawa is a mountain kappa. Apparently the river is preferable.
All that lies beyond her is a dead end, unfortunately. Taking the long way around shows it to be a hairpin, with this being the Wind-boosting one. Having been advised that Wind-types will be useful in the immediate future, it's given to Moon Wheat.
MC-kun interrupts a ghost's peaceful spot in the cave.
As always, the ghost carries a spirit. Moon Wheat picks up double-paralysis during the fight, but doesn't take much damage.
The ghost doesn't leave.
The only other thing of note that I find in the cave is this, on a loop back to the entrance. It's a 1.1x damage multiplier to all focused attack damage.
Next up is the cave which previously led us to the kappa hideout. There's an entrance on either side of the waterfall, with this being the previously-inaccessible one.
I'll do what I please.
With a tip of his cap, MC-kun departs.
He apparently wasn't expected on this side of the cave.
NoBadTactics weathers some super-effective priority spam, then ToTheMoon cleans up the rest.
Apparently the perpetual look of hunger on MC-kun's face is unmistakable.
Another kappa, but this one recognises MC-kun rather than just seeing a hungry, hungry human. He's pleased - no one in Gensokyo has yet acknowledged his blue checkmark, but it's a start.
Moon Wheat easily weathers Rika. At that point, an Iku appears and, once again, my habit of screencapping defeats on the notification of a super-effective attack fails me. She does exploit Moon Wheat's 4x weakness to Electric before she falls, however.
The wonders of fame.
Here, MC-kun leans the full extent of the wonders of travel-by-NPC: the path loops back by the previously-impassable water to the kappa who offers transport to the hideout, with no route that MC-kun can see.
A hideout being hidden does make sense, in the end.
MC-kun considers mugging the kappa. He's not much one for vegetables - the sweets everyone sells for Puppets are much more appealing - but food is food.
That, however, has him worried.
Apparently he's not the only prospective cucumber thief in the area.
Another kappa asserts the superiority of rivers to mountains. This one doesn't want to fight, despite blocking the path to an item.
They're an accuracy boost.
Soon enough, MC-kun has a chance to exit the ravine and the path forks.
To the west is a rather ominous sign.
To the north is a tengu with an equally-ominous warning.
To the northwest is a rest stop. Take it easy. The confectioner inside sells hyper potion equivalents, so it's clear that we're getting on the game.
Flush with cash after selling off his vendor trash, MC-kun is feeling pretty rich and buysa small amount of food for a normal person more than his fair share.
The travelling salesman has a handful of TMs Feeling flush with cash, MC-kun buys the lot in the way of the lottery winner and so renders himself immediately poor once again.
What use is money if you don't spend it all on frivolities, after all? Without Mario memorabilia, all Gensokyo has is TMs.
Acid Tears would be interesting for Deplorable, but Extra Kisume is the only variant that can't learn it.
As always, there's gossip to be had in the rest stop. This kappa is treated to MC-kun's lengthy boasts about how quickly he chased off the invaders.
Remember to stay hydrated!
If he were paying enough attention to respond, MC-kun would be torn between saying that only his experience matters and that it is indeed important to listen to the stories of diverse POCs and transwomen.
MC-kun looks to the thousands of Tweets he's made since unlocking the power of the Nintendo handheld and perhaps even to this.
With that, it's on to the Road of Liminality, since it seems like a side area.
What precisely this ghost was found doing is a mystery.
He's got a Komachi, which is promptly drained by ToTheMoon. At level 28, though, it means that we've reached the average level of the forest from last episode for Puppeteers.
Apparently what he was doing was, in fact, nothing.
Across the river is another dessert. Someone has been very careless, but MC-kun isn't going to turn down jelly.
Also blocked by the river is a TM that no-one can learn.
At the end of a lengthy grassy path, one-tile wide for most of its length, MC-kun finds a Rare Candy.
He is then promptly (and correctly) identified as a lover of food stalls. Realising what must lie ahead, he immediately regrets spending all his money.
Godhotline is not one to miss out on the opportunity to throw out a 120-power super-effective Clearing Mist.
If you're always hungry, food is always tasty.
MC-kun too likes candy floss. A messy eater, he's not one to care for the consequences.
Y-you too.
She has two identical copies of Ringo. ToTheMoon sweeps both.
So do I. Buy me an apple, friendo.
She does not, leading MC-kun to a long Twitter rant about the need to exterminate the obsolescents for the superior future.
MC-kun is far too fat for carnival games.
The stalls, meanwhile, are manned by ghosts. This one suffers greatly for having no hands.
You go, my dude. Youkai belong in camps. I'll definitely take one.
As a red-blooded Bostonian, MC-kun's notion of carnival food differs a fair bit, but he's certainly willing to stuff anything edible down his throat.
All while pilfering the stalls as he goes.
His kleptomania is interrupted only by the presence of a drunken Puppet sleeping in a barrel.
Further down the road, he finds the brunt of the stalls and continues to steal.
Another barrel containing another oni Puppet. This one MC-kun catches, in part because of the novelty and in part because it's a 2hu 11 character and thus implicitly worth catching.
Doesn't seem great for what we have right now.
A ghost nearby catches me by surprise and I miss its dialogue, as well as the fight itself, in which a slightly-damaged ToTheMoon heals off a Komachi.
Imagine if someone in the Human Village were planning such a thing.
Good luck with that, kid. My Sealing Threads did nothing to the turtle at the Hakurei Shrine.
An explanation as to where the girl found tortoises swiftly follows.
Lay it on me, friendo.
MC-kun might be the only person in Gensokyo not capable of danmaku, regardless of his self-professed skills with a .308.
I'm apparently not enough of a weeb to be sure of what's going on here.
Despite being in a consumerist trance, MC-kun still takes the time to make an offering.
Leaving the youkai to her devices, MC-kun proceeds.
There's more to be stolen.
More to be acquired, too.
I'll be having the blue.
An Eiki Puppet judges MC-kun for his crimes against taste, but Moon Wheat is more than a sufficient counter.
Yeah, maybe I'll have some of that. And everything else.
Suitably warned, MC-kun beats his retreat. That simply won't Dew™ it for him.
MC-kun is no coward and heads straight forward.
Soon, glowing wisps fill the air.
Not to be deterred, MC-kun sets about pilfering the dead.
The ghosts are as talkative as ever; the second doesn't notice MC-kun kicking over its cairn.
The water doesn't seem suitable to MC-kun's little inflatable raft. There's a larger rowboat here, but no ferryman. MC-kun knows that he has nowhere near the strength to paddle against the currents and so doesn't steal the boat.
That'll show them for dying young.
This ghost seems to regret not being able to cross the river.
This one, meanwhile, benefits from the shinigami's absence.
There's a spooky TM lying about in the grass. No-one can learn it, although it seems solid enough.
I've not consolidated this line and the next like I usually do, because it does play to a nice effect.
MC-kun isn't scared of huts that would drive him insane. He's encountered one before in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, after all. His only regret is not having bought more hallucinogens at Eientei.
It wouldn't help him if he had, though. It's locked.
Against the eerie background of the Sanzu River, MC-kun catches an Eiki. As much as he admires the police state of his birth, he won't be making use of her. It largely serves as a way to show off the background, since there don't seem to be any trainers around at the moment.
IVs are aren't bad. If this playthrough weren't a Let's Sperg I might well take her, and indeed she still might have something to offer in the future as a tank if some powerlevelling is done.
Not having suffered at all, MC-kun decides that he's done with the river and Road of Liminality for the meanwhile and backtracks.
With that, the moment MC-kun has been dreading arrives. He feels winded just looking at the mountain before him.
It doesn't take long to reach the first Puppeteer of the route.
She has two identical copies of Shizuha. A shame, but we're hopefully close enough to the level 30 power spike that it shouldn't happen too much more often.
Don't quit your day job, friendo.
The cruel game keeps us away from this waterfall, shown also from the ravine below.
Signs and locals are equally welcoming. Even the dead were friendlier.
For a moment, MC-kun thinks he's encountered a schizo. It's almost nostalgic; there were always plenty of those on the streets of Boston.
Instead, it's something else entirely.
Do you have a Twitter? Please! I just need someone else in Gensokyo to understand.
His pleas are seemingly to no avail, though.
A little further along is the Electric-type hairpin.
Off in a crevice is a Skill Card. It gets taught to ToTheMoon, meaning that between her and NoBadTactics we now have decent Nether coverage.
At last, a change to fight tengu rather than just being threatened by them.
More variety has not yet come to pass; NoBadTactics slices her way through two copies of Momiji.
MC-kun is quite confident in his ability not to get lost. It isn't as if he's spent plenty of time just wandering around the Forest of Magic.
He makes it a little further before being accosted by a fairy.
I've got a perfect-IV Cirno.
The game continues to show the value of clicking every rock.
A good while and many rests later, MC-kun spots a sign of human activity: a bridge across the river, now far below. As he starts to cross, he's approached.
Do I know you?
Reimu doesn't even have a blue checkmark.
Not the one I fought.
Bring it, pal.
Reimu represents the first increase in power we've seen in a long time, as befits a rival. ToTheMoon takes a swing at a Power Aya, but a quick switch on Reimu's part ensures that it only deals substantial damage to a Defence Suika instead. The team really is hideously overlevelled at this point.
Suika sets up a sandstorm, but doesn't accomplish anything with it, as Moon Wheat is ready for the kill.
Aya returns and Moon Wheat once again finishes what ToTheMoon started.
Last up is Power Reimu, her ace and only one level behind Moon Wheat, the lowest-levelled member of MC-kun's team. She is faster, as one would expect, and deals a fair chunk of damage, but it's not enough.
As if you could stop me.
Great, a snack.
Having handed out a warning, Reimu departs.
Across the bridge is a waterfall MC-kun can descend in his boat. It doesn't lead to the cave Reimu was mentioning, but there are some things of note to see.
A low-powered attack that slows is noteworthy.
As is a far-off hut, high above. For now, though, all MC-kun can do is continue to take the river downstream back to the start of the zone. A useful shortcut for descent, no doubt, but a mortifying one at his level of fitness for having to repeat the climb.
When he eventually, returns, MC-kun finds the cave, as well as a kappa merchant. He's carrying an assortment of repels, heals and Sealing Threads, but MC-kun is dead broke and couldn't afford anything even if he wanted it.
Inside the nearby hut is a tengu, who doesn't have any omens of doom to spout.
MC-kun is very familiar with the principles of work avoidance and takes the implicit offer of a rest and full-heal, alongside catching his breath
MC-kun wouldn't jeopardise a rest spot.
With that, it's into the cave. It seems like a large one.
A fairy displays the usual burning intelligence of its kind.
It throws a Minoriko at Godhotline, to no avail.
The strongest.
Never missing the chance to collect a Subterranean Animism 2hu, MC-kun grabs a Yamame.
IVs aren't great. Poison Trap is a fun option, though; Toxic Spikes is probably the most entertaining entry hazard by my recollection, even if Stealth Rock is often better.
A little deeper into the cave is a journalist. Stunning and brave.
He packs a Hatate, the very image of modern journalism, phone in hand. She lands a priority crit on ToTheMoon, but it does nothing between a bad type matchup and the level gap.
Baka is the strongest. Simple as.
It's the equivalent to the Red Ring from earlier: a small buff to all spread attacks.
At this point, the path broadens. I imagine I'd hate this if Flash was required in this game.
Straight ahead is a hungry youkai. MC-kun considers asking for a bite.
Neither Not-Benben nor the actual Benben can stand up to Moon Wheat.
I;m thinking about thos beans.
All she has for him, however, is a Rare Candy, not any manjuu.
To the east is a TM that is probably useless outside of PvP.
As well as another glutton. He's feeling quite at home.
The crits come fast and loose, as both Ichirin and Murasa land critical hits on Moon Wheat and ToThe Moon respectively, but it's ultimately hopeless on both sides.
She's got that right.
ToTheMoon also picks up a new option for a skill. It doesn't currently seem useful; we've not seen any evasion tanks so far this game.
To the east are an infodump tengu and, presumably, her lunch. MC-kun gaffles it without a second thought.
From there, it's deeper into the caves. From here, things start splitting enough that I'm not going to bother trying to keep a reader well-oriented, because the cave becomes system of twisty little passage, all alike. It's not all that bad, but screenshots don't do it justice.
It's not a system devoid of loot, however.
A ladder deeper into the caves leads, thankfully, to a dead end with a not-especially-useful item.
MC-kun gets slightly lost in the caves and wanders into a tengu who questions his ability to read. She's probably right.
He can definitely outfight her, though. Moon Wheat takes care of one Hina, then ToTheMoon takes over for a Nitori and another Hina.
A cloaked youkai seems about as confused as MC-kun as to why they're fighting.
All she has is a Nitori, which ToTheMoon drains.
MC-kun isn't sure why; nothing so far has seemed threatening.
This youkai doesn't want to fight; just to talk about her quest to touch fluffy tail.
Another tengu wanting an interview with the now-famous MC-kun.
I once again fail to get a screencap of an Iku, while Godhotline eliminates an Aya.
Nah. It's all about grabbing a controversy from Twitter and just saying what you want people to think.
An exit lies beyond. It looks dangerously like the critical path, so I explore elsewhere.
Up yet another ladder, for example.
MC-kun is gravely offended at being called a youkai.
Moon Wheat mercilessly puts down a Hina.
Stealing her lunch sounds like a good act of vengeance.
Thanks to the wonders of modern fashion, Deplorable no longer has strings and lurks in a box rather than a bucket. MC-kun informs her of this, helpfully.
What a coincidence. So am I.
That offer is accepted. MC-kun is always eager for fame and followers.
Another exit here, but this one seems far less critical.
Instead, there's a whiner.
A charm too, by the hut we saw from the river earlier.
Inside the hut is Hina, who twirls around to speak to MC-kun as he approaches her. He takes the Akyuu Puppet as a sign that she's probably not here to fight.
Hina is a service provider. Not playing a Nuzlocke, I hadn't noticed until now that there isn't a release button by default. She'll spin Puppets away if required. It's not something MC-kun wants, however.
With that, it's back to what seemed to be the essential exit.
Just outside is a very important catch: Leftovers. I'd eagerly give them to Deplorable, but she's currently messing around with a Curing Charm for a different approach.
Also nearby are the twin harvest goddesses, in the flesh (as it were).
Minoriko jumps from musing to fighting in a flash.
She leads with her sister and follows with herself, but Godhotline one-shots both.
MC-kun hopes so. Maybe it'd convince those obsolete farmers to just move to the city and buy their food from a grocer.
Shizuha is less talkative but it's a second fight, same as the first.
The trees nearby seem pretty green.
The famed awoo girl herself blocks MC-kun's path.
She opens with a Hina, which swiftly falls to Moon Wheat.
At that point, she reveals her ace: Speed Momiji holds on at 1 HP against NoBadTactics with its ability before the second attack ends it.
All that remains is a Nitori, which ToTheMoon easily handles.
MC-kun goes where he pleases.
Up the nearby stairs are a familiar duo, once again blocking the path.
Instead, MC-kun has to follow the river as it snakes its way up the mountain, leading to another fight with a kappa.
ToTheMoon and Moon Wheat fight their way to victory, although the team is looking nearly bruised enough to use the first healing items in a long while.
Thankful, MC-kun makes his escape.
What follows appears be be another cave, but we fortunately don't have to traverse it. As MC-kun emerges immediately in the Tengu Village, this episode has gone over 300 images and it's time for it to conclude.
Backtracking with the new boat concluded for now, it's time to return to the Genbu Ravine. Given that a river flows through the whole thing, only one bank has been available until now.
After picking up someone's abandoned dessert near the entrance, it's time to explore.
It doesn't take long until he's accosted by crazies.
She leads with an Iku. As a pure Electric type the Air Cushion ability, she has no weaknesses. Aside, that is, from being just over half Baka's level.
Godhotline versus Nitori is a more traditional fight.
Perhaps this was the rare Puppeteer who actually used items. I wouldn't know.
MC-kun interrupts the frolicking of a nearby fairy before heading into the cave.
She follows the area theme of priority spam, but it isn't enough.
Do I know you?
A kappa guards some stairs right by the cave entrance.
Godhotline continues to prove a suitable response to the locals.
A yama-warawa is a mountain kappa. Apparently the river is preferable.
All that lies beyond her is a dead end, unfortunately. Taking the long way around shows it to be a hairpin, with this being the Wind-boosting one. Having been advised that Wind-types will be useful in the immediate future, it's given to Moon Wheat.
MC-kun interrupts a ghost's peaceful spot in the cave.
As always, the ghost carries a spirit. Moon Wheat picks up double-paralysis during the fight, but doesn't take much damage.
The ghost doesn't leave.
The only other thing of note that I find in the cave is this, on a loop back to the entrance. It's a 1.1x damage multiplier to all focused attack damage.
Next up is the cave which previously led us to the kappa hideout. There's an entrance on either side of the waterfall, with this being the previously-inaccessible one.
I'll do what I please.With a tip of his cap, MC-kun departs.
He apparently wasn't expected on this side of the cave.
NoBadTactics weathers some super-effective priority spam, then ToTheMoon cleans up the rest.
Apparently the perpetual look of hunger on MC-kun's face is unmistakable.
Another kappa, but this one recognises MC-kun rather than just seeing a hungry, hungry human. He's pleased - no one in Gensokyo has yet acknowledged his blue checkmark, but it's a start.
Moon Wheat easily weathers Rika. At that point, an Iku appears and, once again, my habit of screencapping defeats on the notification of a super-effective attack fails me. She does exploit Moon Wheat's 4x weakness to Electric before she falls, however.
The wonders of fame.
Here, MC-kun leans the full extent of the wonders of travel-by-NPC: the path loops back by the previously-impassable water to the kappa who offers transport to the hideout, with no route that MC-kun can see.
A hideout being hidden does make sense, in the end.
MC-kun considers mugging the kappa. He's not much one for vegetables - the sweets everyone sells for Puppets are much more appealing - but food is food.
That, however, has him worried.
Apparently he's not the only prospective cucumber thief in the area.
Another kappa asserts the superiority of rivers to mountains. This one doesn't want to fight, despite blocking the path to an item.
They're an accuracy boost.
Soon enough, MC-kun has a chance to exit the ravine and the path forks.
To the west is a rather ominous sign.
To the north is a tengu with an equally-ominous warning.
To the northwest is a rest stop. Take it easy. The confectioner inside sells hyper potion equivalents, so it's clear that we're getting on the game.
Flush with cash after selling off his vendor trash, MC-kun is feeling pretty rich and buys
The travelling salesman has a handful of TMs Feeling flush with cash, MC-kun buys the lot in the way of the lottery winner and so renders himself immediately poor once again.
What use is money if you don't spend it all on frivolities, after all? Without Mario memorabilia, all Gensokyo has is TMs.
Acid Tears would be interesting for Deplorable, but Extra Kisume is the only variant that can't learn it.
As always, there's gossip to be had in the rest stop. This kappa is treated to MC-kun's lengthy boasts about how quickly he chased off the invaders.
Remember to stay hydrated!
If he were paying enough attention to respond, MC-kun would be torn between saying that only his experience matters and that it is indeed important to listen to the stories of diverse POCs and transwomen.
MC-kun looks to the thousands of Tweets he's made since unlocking the power of the Nintendo handheld and perhaps even to this.
With that, it's on to the Road of Liminality, since it seems like a side area.
What precisely this ghost was found doing is a mystery.
He's got a Komachi, which is promptly drained by ToTheMoon. At level 28, though, it means that we've reached the average level of the forest from last episode for Puppeteers.
Apparently what he was doing was, in fact, nothing.
Across the river is another dessert. Someone has been very careless, but MC-kun isn't going to turn down jelly.
Also blocked by the river is a TM that no-one can learn.
At the end of a lengthy grassy path, one-tile wide for most of its length, MC-kun finds a Rare Candy.
He is then promptly (and correctly) identified as a lover of food stalls. Realising what must lie ahead, he immediately regrets spending all his money.
Godhotline is not one to miss out on the opportunity to throw out a 120-power super-effective Clearing Mist.
If you're always hungry, food is always tasty.
MC-kun too likes candy floss. A messy eater, he's not one to care for the consequences.
Y-you too.
She has two identical copies of Ringo. ToTheMoon sweeps both.
So do I. Buy me an apple, friendo.She does not, leading MC-kun to a long Twitter rant about the need to exterminate the obsolescents for the superior future.
MC-kun is far too fat for carnival games.
The stalls, meanwhile, are manned by ghosts. This one suffers greatly for having no hands.
You go, my dude. Youkai belong in camps. I'll definitely take one.
As a red-blooded Bostonian, MC-kun's notion of carnival food differs a fair bit, but he's certainly willing to stuff anything edible down his throat.
All while pilfering the stalls as he goes.
His kleptomania is interrupted only by the presence of a drunken Puppet sleeping in a barrel.
Further down the road, he finds the brunt of the stalls and continues to steal.
Another barrel containing another oni Puppet. This one MC-kun catches, in part because of the novelty and in part because it's a 2hu 11 character and thus implicitly worth catching.
Doesn't seem great for what we have right now.
A ghost nearby catches me by surprise and I miss its dialogue, as well as the fight itself, in which a slightly-damaged ToTheMoon heals off a Komachi.
Imagine if someone in the Human Village were planning such a thing.
Good luck with that, kid. My Sealing Threads did nothing to the turtle at the Hakurei Shrine.
An explanation as to where the girl found tortoises swiftly follows.
Lay it on me, friendo.
MC-kun might be the only person in Gensokyo not capable of danmaku, regardless of his self-professed skills with a .308.
I'm apparently not enough of a weeb to be sure of what's going on here.
Despite being in a consumerist trance, MC-kun still takes the time to make an offering.
Leaving the youkai to her devices, MC-kun proceeds.
There's more to be stolen.
More to be acquired, too.
I'll be having the blue.
An Eiki Puppet judges MC-kun for his crimes against taste, but Moon Wheat is more than a sufficient counter.
Yeah, maybe I'll have some of that. And everything else.
Suitably warned, MC-kun beats his retreat. That simply won't Dew™ it for him.
MC-kun is no coward and heads straight forward.
Soon, glowing wisps fill the air.
Not to be deterred, MC-kun sets about pilfering the dead.
The ghosts are as talkative as ever; the second doesn't notice MC-kun kicking over its cairn.
The water doesn't seem suitable to MC-kun's little inflatable raft. There's a larger rowboat here, but no ferryman. MC-kun knows that he has nowhere near the strength to paddle against the currents and so doesn't steal the boat.
That'll show them for dying young.
This ghost seems to regret not being able to cross the river.
This one, meanwhile, benefits from the shinigami's absence.
There's a spooky TM lying about in the grass. No-one can learn it, although it seems solid enough.
I've not consolidated this line and the next like I usually do, because it does play to a nice effect.
MC-kun isn't scared of huts that would drive him insane. He's encountered one before in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, after all. His only regret is not having bought more hallucinogens at Eientei.
It wouldn't help him if he had, though. It's locked.
Against the eerie background of the Sanzu River, MC-kun catches an Eiki. As much as he admires the police state of his birth, he won't be making use of her. It largely serves as a way to show off the background, since there don't seem to be any trainers around at the moment.
IVs are aren't bad. If this playthrough weren't a Let's Sperg I might well take her, and indeed she still might have something to offer in the future as a tank if some powerlevelling is done.
With that, the moment MC-kun has been dreading arrives. He feels winded just looking at the mountain before him.
It doesn't take long to reach the first Puppeteer of the route.
She has two identical copies of Shizuha. A shame, but we're hopefully close enough to the level 30 power spike that it shouldn't happen too much more often.
Don't quit your day job, friendo.
The cruel game keeps us away from this waterfall, shown also from the ravine below.
Signs and locals are equally welcoming. Even the dead were friendlier.
For a moment, MC-kun thinks he's encountered a schizo. It's almost nostalgic; there were always plenty of those on the streets of Boston.
Instead, it's something else entirely.
Do you have a Twitter? Please! I just need someone else in Gensokyo to understand.
His pleas are seemingly to no avail, though.
A little further along is the Electric-type hairpin.
Off in a crevice is a Skill Card. It gets taught to ToTheMoon, meaning that between her and NoBadTactics we now have decent Nether coverage.
At last, a change to fight tengu rather than just being threatened by them.
More variety has not yet come to pass; NoBadTactics slices her way through two copies of Momiji.
MC-kun is quite confident in his ability not to get lost. It isn't as if he's spent plenty of time just wandering around the Forest of Magic.
He makes it a little further before being accosted by a fairy.
I've got a perfect-IV Cirno.
The game continues to show the value of clicking every rock.
A good while and many rests later, MC-kun spots a sign of human activity: a bridge across the river, now far below. As he starts to cross, he's approached.
Do I know you?Reimu doesn't even have a blue checkmark.
So you're wandering around this place now, huh?
Just so you know, the are you're standing in was not originally a place for humans.
The tengu may be a noisy bunch, but I do wonder if they've got any more dangerous.
Just so you know, the are you're standing in was not originally a place for humans.
The tengu may be a noisy bunch, but I do wonder if they've got any more dangerous.
Not the one I fought.Nonetheless, if you say you want to pass, how about showing me how strong you are?
Bring it, pal.
Reimu represents the first increase in power we've seen in a long time, as befits a rival. ToTheMoon takes a swing at a Power Aya, but a quick switch on Reimu's part ensures that it only deals substantial damage to a Defence Suika instead. The team really is hideously overlevelled at this point.
Suika sets up a sandstorm, but doesn't accomplish anything with it, as Moon Wheat is ready for the kill.
Aya returns and Moon Wheat once again finishes what ToTheMoon started.
Last up is Power Reimu, her ace and only one level behind Moon Wheat, the lowest-levelled member of MC-kun's team. She is faster, as one would expect, and deals a fair chunk of damage, but it's not enough.
As if you could stop me.
Great, a snack.
Having handed out a warning, Reimu departs.
Across the bridge is a waterfall MC-kun can descend in his boat. It doesn't lead to the cave Reimu was mentioning, but there are some things of note to see.
A low-powered attack that slows is noteworthy.
As is a far-off hut, high above. For now, though, all MC-kun can do is continue to take the river downstream back to the start of the zone. A useful shortcut for descent, no doubt, but a mortifying one at his level of fitness for having to repeat the climb.
When he eventually, returns, MC-kun finds the cave, as well as a kappa merchant. He's carrying an assortment of repels, heals and Sealing Threads, but MC-kun is dead broke and couldn't afford anything even if he wanted it.
Inside the nearby hut is a tengu, who doesn't have any omens of doom to spout.
MC-kun is very familiar with the principles of work avoidance and takes the implicit offer of a rest and full-heal, alongside catching his breath
MC-kun wouldn't jeopardise a rest spot.
With that, it's into the cave. It seems like a large one.
A fairy displays the usual burning intelligence of its kind.
It throws a Minoriko at Godhotline, to no avail.
The strongest.
Never missing the chance to collect a Subterranean Animism 2hu, MC-kun grabs a Yamame.
IVs aren't great. Poison Trap is a fun option, though; Toxic Spikes is probably the most entertaining entry hazard by my recollection, even if Stealth Rock is often better.
A little deeper into the cave is a journalist. Stunning and brave.
He packs a Hatate, the very image of modern journalism, phone in hand. She lands a priority crit on ToTheMoon, but it does nothing between a bad type matchup and the level gap.
Baka is the strongest. Simple as.
It's the equivalent to the Red Ring from earlier: a small buff to all spread attacks.
At this point, the path broadens. I imagine I'd hate this if Flash was required in this game.
Straight ahead is a hungry youkai. MC-kun considers asking for a bite.
Neither Not-Benben nor the actual Benben can stand up to Moon Wheat.
I;m thinking about thos beans.
All she has for him, however, is a Rare Candy, not any manjuu.
To the east is a TM that is probably useless outside of PvP.
As well as another glutton. He's feeling quite at home.
The crits come fast and loose, as both Ichirin and Murasa land critical hits on Moon Wheat and ToThe Moon respectively, but it's ultimately hopeless on both sides.
She's got that right.
ToTheMoon also picks up a new option for a skill. It doesn't currently seem useful; we've not seen any evasion tanks so far this game.
To the east are an infodump tengu and, presumably, her lunch. MC-kun gaffles it without a second thought.
From there, it's deeper into the caves. From here, things start splitting enough that I'm not going to bother trying to keep a reader well-oriented, because the cave becomes system of twisty little passage, all alike. It's not all that bad, but screenshots don't do it justice.
It's not a system devoid of loot, however.
A ladder deeper into the caves leads, thankfully, to a dead end with a not-especially-useful item.
MC-kun gets slightly lost in the caves and wanders into a tengu who questions his ability to read. She's probably right.
He can definitely outfight her, though. Moon Wheat takes care of one Hina, then ToTheMoon takes over for a Nitori and another Hina.
A cloaked youkai seems about as confused as MC-kun as to why they're fighting.
All she has is a Nitori, which ToTheMoon drains.
MC-kun isn't sure why; nothing so far has seemed threatening.
This youkai doesn't want to fight; just to talk about her quest to touch fluffy tail.
Another tengu wanting an interview with the now-famous MC-kun.
I once again fail to get a screencap of an Iku, while Godhotline eliminates an Aya.
Nah. It's all about grabbing a controversy from Twitter and just saying what you want people to think.
An exit lies beyond. It looks dangerously like the critical path, so I explore elsewhere.
Up yet another ladder, for example.
MC-kun is gravely offended at being called a youkai.
Moon Wheat mercilessly puts down a Hina.
Stealing her lunch sounds like a good act of vengeance.
Thanks to the wonders of modern fashion, Deplorable no longer has strings and lurks in a box rather than a bucket. MC-kun informs her of this, helpfully.
What a coincidence. So am I.
That offer is accepted. MC-kun is always eager for fame and followers.
Another exit here, but this one seems far less critical.
Instead, there's a whiner.
A charm too, by the hut we saw from the river earlier.
Inside the hut is Hina, who twirls around to speak to MC-kun as he approaches her. He takes the Akyuu Puppet as a sign that she's probably not here to fight.
Hina is a service provider. Not playing a Nuzlocke, I hadn't noticed until now that there isn't a release button by default. She'll spin Puppets away if required. It's not something MC-kun wants, however.
With that, it's back to what seemed to be the essential exit.
Just outside is a very important catch: Leftovers. I'd eagerly give them to Deplorable, but she's currently messing around with a Curing Charm for a different approach.
Also nearby are the twin harvest goddesses, in the flesh (as it were).
Minoriko jumps from musing to fighting in a flash.
She leads with her sister and follows with herself, but Godhotline one-shots both.
MC-kun hopes so. Maybe it'd convince those obsolete farmers to just move to the city and buy their food from a grocer.
Shizuha is less talkative but it's a second fight, same as the first.
The trees nearby seem pretty green.
The famed awoo girl herself blocks MC-kun's path.
She opens with a Hina, which swiftly falls to Moon Wheat.
At that point, she reveals her ace: Speed Momiji holds on at 1 HP against NoBadTactics with its ability before the second attack ends it.
All that remains is a Nitori, which ToTheMoon easily handles.
MC-kun goes where he pleases.
Up the nearby stairs are a familiar duo, once again blocking the path.
Instead, MC-kun has to follow the river as it snakes its way up the mountain, leading to another fight with a kappa.
ToTheMoon and Moon Wheat fight their way to victory, although the team is looking nearly bruised enough to use the first healing items in a long while.
Thankful, MC-kun makes his escape.
What follows appears be be another cave, but we fortunately don't have to traverse it. As MC-kun emerges immediately in the Tengu Village, this episode has gone over 300 images and it's time for it to conclude.
Attachments
Some time has passed since the last episode, in large part due to the site giving me some trouble. I do apologise.
Edited to fix the one broken image I missed.
We left the last episode with MC-kun having headed through a mountain tunnel to a tree-filled pathway. A little distance further and he finds a bridge across a stream.
He's interrupted as he begins to cross.
Aya quickly reveals herself. She's got enough time for a chat, at least.
MC-kun resolves not to change his usual strategy of talking to everyone in the least.
Your ... brush?
I'm a red-blooded American, friendo. I don't know what a news brush is.
Wait...!
Hatate leads and deals some nasty damage with a crit, but ToTheMoon uses her usual boosted draining-type move and, after a second time, claims her victory.
Aya follows, but there's only so much she can do before ToTheMoon one-shots her.
Of course I'm not the criminal, pal. Just wait until Twitter hears that I've been profiled when I know who actually did it.
What don't I know, friendo? Just wait until I catch those fairies.
Give that to me.
What?
MC-kun doesn't really care all that much about the youma books - he can't even read them - but he's got no better leads on what's going on and he still craves ultimate power.
Eh, sure.
I thought you needed your brush for that.
With that, Aya is off and MC-kun is free to proceed.
The Tengu Village is only a few steps away. Almost immediately, MC-kun finds a Puppet in a barrel.
With ToTheMoon's help, he continues his tradition of catching everything to be found in a barrel. Besides, he's interested in whether the Puppet's flip-phone is in working condition and, if so, whether he can make better use of it for his Twitter needs than his console. He has no luck in the matter, however.
Fast, but not otherwise that interesting. Moon Wheat covers spread wind attacks.
The fact that he's currently tracking down some thieves does nothing to dissuade MC-kun, meanwhile, from some theft of his own.
Duly warned, MC-kun continues his exploration.
MC-kun isn't scared. He simply tips his cap and leaves.
It's a 300-step repel, but that's not the important part.
Magatama? MAGA-tama? They're here? The ghouls?
So incandescent is MC-kun's rage that his verified ban is restored in the ensuing Tweetstorm.
While MC-kun doesn't deign that with a response, he's almost starting to relax. Not a single tengu has attacked him.
That quickly changes, as he's called sus and forced into battle.
The battle opens with ToTheMoon easily draining an Aya.
At that point, NoBadTactics arrives with her ideal type matchup and quickly eliminates two Momiji, reminding me in the process to heal.
Indeed, the rest stop is visible to the right in this frame.
I'd know if that were the case, friendo. I loot every vase, shrub and barrel.
Everyone inside the rest stop is a journalist. There's nothing new or interesting on sale, but all of the others have things to say - the two in the top-right, in particular, are arguing over the virtues of boots-on-the-ground journalism versus the Buzzfeed approach.
Next-door, a tengu makes the crucial admission. This would not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the source material - one of the official books, which is ostensibly a tengu tabloid, is titled Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia.
MC-kun would never doubt a journalist, but he does exact some payment in the form of lunch.
Are you racially-profiling me, friendo? Don't you know who I am?
The battle takes a while to start as MC-kun continues to rant.
Eventually, however, the time comes to fight. NoBadTactics effortlessly sweeps her way through a duo of Hatate.
MC-kun isn't about to take that advice. He heads north.
A neat TM, but unfortunately not available to anyone.
Wandering southward afterwards, MC-kun's habit of checking every bush suddenly bites him with plot progression.
Intrigued, he investigates further, only to be rebuffed repeatedly.
Eventually, the bushes' inhabitants realise that he isn't fooled by their words.
So we see the trio with a single brain cell between them.
Give me that camouflage, friendo, or things are going to get ugly.
With that, it's time to fight. The Three Fairies of Light fight as one against MC-kun alone, but he's not bothered. They've got six Puppets between them, a first for this game, but he's no stranger to exterminating fairies.
In honour of the fight lasting long enough for it to have a chance of being meaningful, Deplorable lays out an entry hazard before doing her thing.
She's overlevelled enough that even with her abysmal focused attack, she still takes away the rest of Sunny's HP with a single attack.
After that, the levels jump suddenly to a slightly more reasonable level. Luna sets up weather that buffs her damage and nerfs Deplorable's, so ToTheMoon switches in to assist. She has a bad time as Luna lands some super-effective hits (including a crit), but manages to retaliate with her own.
Power Sunny follows and uses the weather to give Moon Wheat a beatdown, but she endures until the aurora fades and eventually stops missing to land the lethal Mudslide.
Power Star follows and proves no match for Baka, who easily endures to land her own attack.
What follows is more cleanup than anything else. Godhotline slices her way through a Luna, while Deplorable returns to finish what she started and knocks out a Star.
With that, the fairies flee, Luna lagging slightly behind.
With that, it's back to exploring the village. This tengu has a revolutionary plan for remote photography.
Inside what is presumably his house is a weather-enhancing item. Sunshower is the Wonder Room-equivalent, switching SpDef and FoDef. It won't matter at all for so long as I'm hideously overlevelled.
I've dealt with your fairy problem.
MC-kun leads Aya south through the village.
After reading the Reborn Let's Sperg and not playing this for a while, it almost feels surprising. Aya just hands over the McGuffin immediately, with no further fuss.
For once, my ten-minute reaction times actually catch an NPC walking away - amusing that it happens with the fastest of the lot.
With that, MC-kun is done with the tengu. He returns to where the cart earlier blocked the path and, sure enough, it's been moved.
He's told what he's already seen, as well as a little extra.
Meanwhile, the kappa continue to be belligerent.
A startling choice with a severe type disadvantage to ToTheMoon.
Nothing personnel ... friendo.
The climb continues, along with trend of items found in rocks.
This is a good question. I legitimately don't remember why I'm climbing this mountain, other than not having anywhere else to go at the moment.
The battle is less mysterious. NoBadTactics does the Time Warp again.
MC-kun always thinks of himself as the heart and soul of the party, so he's ready to proceed. He's drunk his share of sake labelled as produced at the Moriya Shrine too, so he's basically an expert.
At this point, it's straight back into mountaineering. There's a river to be traversed and loot to be found.
A shame all of the tengu are taking the day off.
Yes.
For once, I catch a living Iku, as Baka prepares to obliterate her.
The rest of the fight is more perfunctory; NoBadTactics easily tidies up a Hatate and Chen.
Not surprising, with how little you tried.
With sacramental sake just lying around, the shrine must be close.
This time, MC-kun isn't profiled.
Moon Wheat puts on a show; Kisume holds on through the first attack, but it's not enough to prevent that one last point of damage from landing the next turn.
Strange words for someone with only one Puppet.
With that, it's a zone transition, to an area where MC-kun is accosted by someone looking for Kasen. He hasn't seen her.
Most of the zone seems to be inaccessible, however. Instead, MC-kun continues climbing the mountain.
That gets MC-kun to a zone with a new name and a lot of stairs. Fully out-of-breath, he pauses for a while to take advantage of the excellent mobile reception this high on the mountain.
Soon enough, he passes through the torii and into the shrine grounds.
There's a visitor who made it through with grit, determination and power. In the future, all he'll need is a cable car, but I'm pretty sure that plot point was well after this game released.
Closer to the shrine proper, MC-kun is accosted. It's a familiar face, at least, although MC-kun's Twitter habits forbid him from acknowledging it.
Who are you?
Before MC-kun can respond, another voice chimes in.
She quickly reveals herself, as Sanae gushes an introduction.
A god, willing to chat. Not something you encounter every day. MC-kun is about to take Kanako up on her offer, when suddenly...
It's rival time. Sanae was our first battle and it's finally time for a rematch.
We might at last have at least a slight challenge. Defence Reimu is a premier tank as well as a brutal damage-dealer. She absolutely brutalises NoBadTactics with an attack that uses the enemy's FoAtk instead of her own, almost one-shotting her without a type advantage or crit. At the same time, NoBadTactic's passive lands and prevents Reimu from healing. She's the best Continue tank in the game and so that's small mercy. As she sharply buffs her FoDef, I realise that it's time to change tack.
I get my typings backwards and ToTheMoon almost gets herself killed after Reimu buffs herself and continues to attack, but she eventually carries the day.
Godhotline makes a valiant effort against Sanae, but takes two hits before she can attack and that proves to be enough. Baka is sent forth to tidy up the mess.
With the ace out of the way, Moon Wheat emerges to avenger her sister, but suffers the same fate, getting one-hit on switch-in.
Marisa, a glass cannon extraordinaire, then proceeds to flail ineffectually at Deplorable, who lands her status and begins to chip.
I'm the best.
Is...
He immediately begins a massive spergout, both in person and on social media.
Just what is he on about?
Eventually, MC-kun calms down enough for Sanae to offer a brief tutorial, but he is paying no attention.
Shortcuts are nice, certainly. There are plenty of rocks to check now that they can be broken.
Kanako decides that she's done and takes her leave, letting Sanae deal with the hyperventilating MC-kun. It takes a good while, but eventually the paroxysms of Mahvel recede.
With the power of the Superpower Glove, there's probably plenty to do.
But first, MC-kun has to calm down. He takes a nap in what he assumes must be Sanae's bed.
Kanako wholly ignores that MC-kun is perfectly happy where he is. Exuberant, even. Practically euphoric.
Kanako is full of tricks. She opens with a Power Sanae, which switches immediately into her ace, Power Kanako. ToTheMoon stares down the first opponent in a long time to outlevel her for all of a turn before she too switches into Speed Suwako.
Suwako then one-shots Godhotline, who seemed the ideal matchup for the moment, all while her stats swing wildly.
Suwako spams Supernatural Border, the Protect-equivalent and lets her ability take the wheel, sharply raising one random stat and normally lowering one other per turn. Baka sits through it until, finally, she lands a 4x effective Voice of Famine.
At that point, NoBadTactics attempts to challenge Kanako but, like Godhotline, gets herself one-shot as Kanako flexes her type advantage.
ToTheMoon barely lives through one attack from a faster Kanako, at which point Deplorable gets sent out. A crying shame, since if I'd gambled on the switch ToTheMoon would have been extremely effective.
Kept confused by Sanae, Deplorable nonetheless starts getting her job done. At the time of that screencap, she uses Continue as Sanae switches out to Kanako.
With my poor timing, I break out the healing items for the first time in many hours. Eventually, Deplorable tanks her way to burning Kanako.
At that point, luck proves itself to be on my side as Deplorable hands on with 3 HP to heal herself.
When that happens, it's over. Kanako attacks twice more before she succumbs to her burns.
Deplorable then unfreezes just in time to hit Sanae, who survives on a sliver of HP to be felled by her burn.
Has MC-kun done it? With her godlike powers, will Kanako return him to the Outside World (against his will)?
Of course not.
She does have some loot for him, at least.
It's a Lucky Egg, apparently, which doesn't seem too useful when Kanako has probably been the first fight since Miko to pose a decent challenge. At least it's a way to bring new entrants up to speed, if that ever happens.
She could, but she won't.
On that, we'll end this episode. It's been a while, but I'm pleased to be back in the swing of things. Hopefully Kanako will be an indicator of a difficulty spike, although as she's an optional boss I have my doubts.
Thank you, readers, for waiting warmly during the gap in posting.
Aya quickly reveals herself. She's got enough time for a chat, at least.
MC-kun resolves not to change his usual strategy of talking to everyone in the least.
Your ... brush?
I'm a red-blooded American, friendo. I don't know what a news brush is.
Wait...!
Hatate leads and deals some nasty damage with a crit, but ToTheMoon uses her usual boosted draining-type move and, after a second time, claims her victory.
Aya follows, but there's only so much she can do before ToTheMoon one-shots her.
Of course I'm not the criminal, pal. Just wait until Twitter hears that I've been profiled when I know who actually did it.
What don't I know, friendo? Just wait until I catch those fairies.
Give that to me.
What?
MC-kun doesn't really care all that much about the youma books - he can't even read them - but he's got no better leads on what's going on and he still craves ultimate power.
Eh, sure.
I thought you needed your brush for that.
With that, Aya is off and MC-kun is free to proceed.
The Tengu Village is only a few steps away. Almost immediately, MC-kun finds a Puppet in a barrel.
With ToTheMoon's help, he continues his tradition of catching everything to be found in a barrel. Besides, he's interested in whether the Puppet's flip-phone is in working condition and, if so, whether he can make better use of it for his Twitter needs than his console. He has no luck in the matter, however.
Fast, but not otherwise that interesting. Moon Wheat covers spread wind attacks.
The fact that he's currently tracking down some thieves does nothing to dissuade MC-kun, meanwhile, from some theft of his own.
Duly warned, MC-kun continues his exploration.
MC-kun isn't scared. He simply tips his cap and leaves.
It's a 300-step repel, but that's not the important part.
Magatama? MAGA-tama? They're here? The ghouls?
So incandescent is MC-kun's rage that his verified ban is restored in the ensuing Tweetstorm.
While MC-kun doesn't deign that with a response, he's almost starting to relax. Not a single tengu has attacked him.
That quickly changes, as he's called sus and forced into battle.
The battle opens with ToTheMoon easily draining an Aya.
At that point, NoBadTactics arrives with her ideal type matchup and quickly eliminates two Momiji, reminding me in the process to heal.
Indeed, the rest stop is visible to the right in this frame.
I'd know if that were the case, friendo. I loot every vase, shrub and barrel.
Everyone inside the rest stop is a journalist. There's nothing new or interesting on sale, but all of the others have things to say - the two in the top-right, in particular, are arguing over the virtues of boots-on-the-ground journalism versus the Buzzfeed approach.
Next-door, a tengu makes the crucial admission. This would not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the source material - one of the official books, which is ostensibly a tengu tabloid, is titled Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia.
MC-kun would never doubt a journalist, but he does exact some payment in the form of lunch.
Are you racially-profiling me, friendo? Don't you know who I am?The battle takes a while to start as MC-kun continues to rant.
Eventually, however, the time comes to fight. NoBadTactics effortlessly sweeps her way through a duo of Hatate.
MC-kun isn't about to take that advice. He heads north.
A neat TM, but unfortunately not available to anyone.
Wandering southward afterwards, MC-kun's habit of checking every bush suddenly bites him with plot progression.
Intrigued, he investigates further, only to be rebuffed repeatedly.
Eventually, the bushes' inhabitants realise that he isn't fooled by their words.
So we see the trio with a single brain cell between them.
Give me that camouflage, friendo, or things are going to get ugly.
With that, it's time to fight. The Three Fairies of Light fight as one against MC-kun alone, but he's not bothered. They've got six Puppets between them, a first for this game, but he's no stranger to exterminating fairies.
In honour of the fight lasting long enough for it to have a chance of being meaningful, Deplorable lays out an entry hazard before doing her thing.
She's overlevelled enough that even with her abysmal focused attack, she still takes away the rest of Sunny's HP with a single attack.
After that, the levels jump suddenly to a slightly more reasonable level. Luna sets up weather that buffs her damage and nerfs Deplorable's, so ToTheMoon switches in to assist. She has a bad time as Luna lands some super-effective hits (including a crit), but manages to retaliate with her own.
Power Sunny follows and uses the weather to give Moon Wheat a beatdown, but she endures until the aurora fades and eventually stops missing to land the lethal Mudslide.
Power Star follows and proves no match for Baka, who easily endures to land her own attack.
What follows is more cleanup than anything else. Godhotline slices her way through a Luna, while Deplorable returns to finish what she started and knocks out a Star.
With that, the fairies flee, Luna lagging slightly behind.
With that, it's back to exploring the village. This tengu has a revolutionary plan for remote photography.
Inside what is presumably his house is a weather-enhancing item. Sunshower is the Wonder Room-equivalent, switching SpDef and FoDef. It won't matter at all for so long as I'm hideously overlevelled.
I've dealt with your fairy problem.
MC-kun leads Aya south through the village.
After reading the Reborn Let's Sperg and not playing this for a while, it almost feels surprising. Aya just hands over the McGuffin immediately, with no further fuss.
For once, my ten-minute reaction times actually catch an NPC walking away - amusing that it happens with the fastest of the lot.
With that, MC-kun is done with the tengu. He returns to where the cart earlier blocked the path and, sure enough, it's been moved.
He's told what he's already seen, as well as a little extra.
Meanwhile, the kappa continue to be belligerent.
A startling choice with a severe type disadvantage to ToTheMoon.
Nothing personnel ... friendo.
The climb continues, along with trend of items found in rocks.
This is a good question. I legitimately don't remember why I'm climbing this mountain, other than not having anywhere else to go at the moment.
The battle is less mysterious. NoBadTactics does the Time Warp again.
MC-kun always thinks of himself as the heart and soul of the party, so he's ready to proceed. He's drunk his share of sake labelled as produced at the Moriya Shrine too, so he's basically an expert.
At this point, it's straight back into mountaineering. There's a river to be traversed and loot to be found.
A shame all of the tengu are taking the day off.
Yes.
For once, I catch a living Iku, as Baka prepares to obliterate her.
The rest of the fight is more perfunctory; NoBadTactics easily tidies up a Hatate and Chen.
Not surprising, with how little you tried.
With sacramental sake just lying around, the shrine must be close.
This time, MC-kun isn't profiled.
Moon Wheat puts on a show; Kisume holds on through the first attack, but it's not enough to prevent that one last point of damage from landing the next turn.
Strange words for someone with only one Puppet.
With that, it's a zone transition, to an area where MC-kun is accosted by someone looking for Kasen. He hasn't seen her.
Most of the zone seems to be inaccessible, however. Instead, MC-kun continues climbing the mountain.
That gets MC-kun to a zone with a new name and a lot of stairs. Fully out-of-breath, he pauses for a while to take advantage of the excellent mobile reception this high on the mountain.
Soon enough, he passes through the torii and into the shrine grounds.
There's a visitor who made it through with grit, determination and power. In the future, all he'll need is a cable car, but I'm pretty sure that plot point was well after this game released.
Closer to the shrine proper, MC-kun is accosted. It's a familiar face, at least, although MC-kun's Twitter habits forbid him from acknowledging it.
Who are you?
Before MC-kun can respond, another voice chimes in.
She quickly reveals herself, as Sanae gushes an introduction.
A god, willing to chat. Not something you encounter every day. MC-kun is about to take Kanako up on her offer, when suddenly...
It's rival time. Sanae was our first battle and it's finally time for a rematch.
We might at last have at least a slight challenge. Defence Reimu is a premier tank as well as a brutal damage-dealer. She absolutely brutalises NoBadTactics with an attack that uses the enemy's FoAtk instead of her own, almost one-shotting her without a type advantage or crit. At the same time, NoBadTactic's passive lands and prevents Reimu from healing. She's the best Continue tank in the game and so that's small mercy. As she sharply buffs her FoDef, I realise that it's time to change tack.
I get my typings backwards and ToTheMoon almost gets herself killed after Reimu buffs herself and continues to attack, but she eventually carries the day.
Godhotline makes a valiant effort against Sanae, but takes two hits before she can attack and that proves to be enough. Baka is sent forth to tidy up the mess.
With the ace out of the way, Moon Wheat emerges to avenger her sister, but suffers the same fate, getting one-hit on switch-in.
Marisa, a glass cannon extraordinaire, then proceeds to flail ineffectually at Deplorable, who lands her status and begins to chip.
I'm the best.
Is...Is that...?!
It's all MC-kun can do not to pass out as he sees what Sanae is offering him. An item of great religious significance to him. He wasn't sure why he was visiting the shrine before, but Remilia must have been right. It was fate.He immediately begins a massive spergout, both in person and on social media.
Just what is he on about?I apologise, Lady Kanako. I have no idea.
Eventually, MC-kun calms down enough for Sanae to offer a brief tutorial, but he is paying no attention.
Shortcuts are nice, certainly. There are plenty of rocks to check now that they can be broken.
Kanako decides that she's done and takes her leave, letting Sanae deal with the hyperventilating MC-kun. It takes a good while, but eventually the paroxysms of Mahvel recede.
With the power of the Superpower Glove, there's probably plenty to do.
But first, MC-kun has to calm down. He takes a nap in what he assumes must be Sanae's bed.
Kanako wholly ignores that MC-kun is perfectly happy where he is. Exuberant, even. Practically euphoric.
Kanako is full of tricks. She opens with a Power Sanae, which switches immediately into her ace, Power Kanako. ToTheMoon stares down the first opponent in a long time to outlevel her for all of a turn before she too switches into Speed Suwako.
Suwako then one-shots Godhotline, who seemed the ideal matchup for the moment, all while her stats swing wildly.
Suwako spams Supernatural Border, the Protect-equivalent and lets her ability take the wheel, sharply raising one random stat and normally lowering one other per turn. Baka sits through it until, finally, she lands a 4x effective Voice of Famine.
At that point, NoBadTactics attempts to challenge Kanako but, like Godhotline, gets herself one-shot as Kanako flexes her type advantage.
ToTheMoon barely lives through one attack from a faster Kanako, at which point Deplorable gets sent out. A crying shame, since if I'd gambled on the switch ToTheMoon would have been extremely effective.
Kept confused by Sanae, Deplorable nonetheless starts getting her job done. At the time of that screencap, she uses Continue as Sanae switches out to Kanako.
With my poor timing, I break out the healing items for the first time in many hours. Eventually, Deplorable tanks her way to burning Kanako.
At that point, luck proves itself to be on my side as Deplorable hands on with 3 HP to heal herself.
When that happens, it's over. Kanako attacks twice more before she succumbs to her burns.
Deplorable then unfreezes just in time to hit Sanae, who survives on a sliver of HP to be felled by her burn.
Has MC-kun done it? With her godlike powers, will Kanako return him to the Outside World (against his will)?
Of course not.
She does have some loot for him, at least.
It's a Lucky Egg, apparently, which doesn't seem too useful when Kanako has probably been the first fight since Miko to pose a decent challenge. At least it's a way to bring new entrants up to speed, if that ever happens.
She could, but she won't.
On that, we'll end this episode. It's been a while, but I'm pleased to be back in the swing of things. Hopefully Kanako will be an indicator of a difficulty spike, although as she's an optional boss I have my doubts.
Thank you, readers, for waiting warmly during the gap in posting.
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The difficulty increases a little from here onwards, normal trainers will be using styled puppets. Still massively underleveled, especially to Baka.
Kanako was to be the first serious curve ball challenge until and after 2hu E4 , that's when things get a little challenging. There is also Chireidan before which may offer a good fight.
Kanako was to be the first serious curve ball challenge until and after 2hu E4 , that's when things get a little challenging. There is also Chireidan before which may offer a good fight.
Good to hear that there will be at least something of a step upwards and also that Chireiden has a chance to be a good time - I've made my bias towards Subterranean Animism pretty blatant in the past.
I generally switch Baka out immediately and only use her against other Cirnos and boss fights to keep things a bit more interesting, but that does have the compounding problem of her getting ever more overlevelled, with the only solution being setting someone else as the lead, which I won't do.
Pretty much every non-boss since the boat unlock and maybe even going back to Eientei has had Puppets in the 26-28 level range, it feels, so if they'll finally hit level 30 and start using styles, it's good.
Satori is always a challenge - the challenge is a mirror fight with your own team ! Her AI is random depending on the team and moves. Moves affected by weather and stalls are not quite her forte ; conversely, it is brutal when Satori unveils your sweeper against your team. A past game had starter P.Remilia swept the whole team twice until I changed a teammate for a dedicated stall.
After Satori, E4 can be a bit of a challenge. Post game is where most of the difficulty resides, with Flandre to top everything.
A brief review of 2hu 18, now that the full release has been out for a bit and I've struggled my way to Normal 1CCs: it's trickier than 16 and 17, however much vampire Marisa might let you spam your way through everything. The cards aren't my favourite gimmick, but they're not bad either.
Without further ado, let's get back to Touhoumon.
Edit: Forgot a LN title.
Without further ado, let's get back to Touhoumon.
We left off the last episode in the Moriya Shrine after a fairly brutal battle with Kanako, the happy merchant goddess resident in the shrine. There's still plenty to see, however, even before trying out the fancy new Superpower Glove that had MC-kun so excited.
Heading further up the mountain past the shrine, MC-kun encounters a worshipper struggling with the formalities.
Gods are pushovers, friendo. Just battle them (and win, of course, like me) if they get on your nerves.
He's also not the only fedora-tipper in the region.
I bet she has some good loot.
The ascent, meanwhile, grows ever more dramatic.
Much like many of the tengu back in the village, this one is too lazy to do her job properly.
This makes MC-kun start re-evaluating his stance towards Kanako. Nothing like some industrialisation to leave the ghouls behind.
The tengu might be lazy, but the Youkai Mountain's other inhabitants are much more enthusiastic about Kanako's brand of marketing.
The other youkai before the lake has some comments on the site itself: both the pillars and the greater region. MC-kun knew none of it, but doesn't really care either. He's still in the aftershocks of his violent Marvelgasm.
Learning that the lake was imported isn't enough to stop him from sailing it.
There's plenty to see: it's a massive lake, dotted with the pillars.
There are also items to be found. This one lies just off the edge of the lake itself.
Others, meanwhile, require bolder sailing.
MC-kun's fear is less about the waterfall and more about the amount of cycling he'll have to do to regain the lost altitude. At least you don't have to walk down a waterfall.
Eventually, however, he manages. There's nothing to do at Suwako's shrine for now, however.
Passage further up towards the peak of the mountain is also blocked by boat, leaving only a grass-overgrown footpath.
Another charm with no current use case.
Nearby, a route deeper into the woods.
That leads to a clearing with a lot of crates and a hut. MC-kun starts rifling through them and, sure enough, they're all packed with dumplings.
Eventually, his pilfering catches the eye of one of the inhabitants.
We didn't actually encounter Seiran and Ringo in the flesh in the Lunar Capital, with that absence despite them being catchable now getting an explanation.
Seiran doesn't instantly defeat MC-kun like the other Lunarians, however, and immediately launches into battle.
Rei'sen is fast, but she can only ineffectually chip away at ToTheMoon before being drained.
Moon Wheat switches in to take a shot at the lesser Lunarian, but shows her weakness, getting dropped just below half HP on switch-in.
I'm not about to let her repeat that performance, so the job instead falls to NoBadTactics, who no-sells Seiran's lightning and then effortlessly eliminates her.
NoBadTactics sticks around for what turns into a vicious two-turn slugfest with Ringo as each survives the other's first attack despite mutual type advantages.
NoBadTactics, however, is faster and thus strikes first to claim her victory.
Do you know who I am?
Seiran did a number on a Toyohime eight levels her superior, but she's still right: even the rabbits on the moon didn't permit a fight.
I know all about that, friendo. I'm a regular in the Lunar Capital.
Leaving the bemused rabbit before she can comment, MC-kun continues to loot her camp and examine the new skills some Puppets acquired in the fight.
Deplorable acquires a drain, but with her abysmal Focus Attack, I'd rather stick with Continue for healing.
NoBadTactics, meanwhile, acquires a solid Dark move. She completes her journey to an edgy skillset by dropping Light Javelin for it: Godhotline covers that niche nicely at this point.
The crates both contain healing dumplings, just like the ones outside.
The same is true of the area's other storeroom, with even more crates alongside some slightly more interesting items.
The TM is also useful, for once. Moon Wheat picks up a slightly better water attack.
Orderly rocks block further passage by water, as they so often do, so there's little of the camp left to explore.
Do I know you?
MC-kun decides not to mention that he caught a Ringo a good while back.
Like Seiran before her, Ringo opens with a Rei'sen, but we've finally reached a level where there's some differentiation between them: Seiran went for speed, while Ringo goes for power.
She makes a good test subject for NoBadTactics' new skill.
Next up is a Defence Seiran, who has a whole lot of type weaknesses, some of which NoBadTactics covers.
Last up is a Defence Ringo. She has a weakness to Dark and thus could easily have eaten a Dark Sphere, but I decide to give the fight to Godhotline instead. It turns out that she doesn't exactly have a great moveset for the job: she's got two Steel-type moves and both have just 60 power against a cost 90 Puppet like Ringo. She really suffers against weaker opponents.
It was over 9 000 all along, pal.
Not a very well-kept one.
Both already knowing and having defeated Seiran, MC-kun decides that he's done all he can. Unfortunately, it seems that the rabbits aren't yet ready to purify the earth, nor do they want his help to do so. The cleansing of the ghouls will have to wait.
Indeed, that concludes MC-kun's business at the Moriya Shrine. One nap in Sanae's bed later and he's back to the wild slopes of Youkai Mountain proper.
With a snap of MC-kun's fingers, the one of the two rocks blocking the path disintegrates.
A short distance down the once-blocked path, MC-kun is stopped by a security tengu.
In a step down from the shrine, we're back to seeing unstyled Puppets. Godhotline effortlessly cleaves through a pair of Momiji.
Nothing personnel, kid. I just happen to believe that there is (almost) no such thing as bad tactics, only bad targets.
No.
It's been a while since we've encountered a Mystia, but this trainer packs three. All, unfortunately for her, are extremely vulnerable to Godhotline.
She's in no state to care, however.
Not everyone has the deepest motivations.
Nor the deepest encounter design, for that matter. Moon Wheat does her best to spice things up and kills each Yamame with a different super-effective move.
Further down the mountain is a rare sight. MC-kun wouldn't have the first idea of where to get started with danmaku, so he ignores the tengu altogether and heads on his way.
There is a catch to be had on the road. When we first reached the descent, an NPC was looking for a Kasen, so it's probably for the best to snag the definitely-a-human-she-swears.
Doesn't seem terrible, but I don't really have a use case and just grabbed her because she was mentioned as being rare.
Food is left lying about on the path.
But before MC-kun can return to his spelunking habits, he's accosted by a tengu.
Godhotline slices and dices her way through a Momiji, then reminds the cost 110 Aya that her steel moves are only bad against weak Puppets.
Leaving the honest and ethical journalist to do his thing, MC-kun enters the cave.
To MC-kun, who barely pays attention to items, this comes as a revelation.
Unfortunately for her, ToTheMoon cleanly counters her whole team.
The Superpower Glove would be in tears if it were capable of comprehending MC-kun's feelings (and intentions) toward it.
This is the sort of cave that branches. MC-kun proceeds to explore, thanking his lucky stars that the devs of this game didn't care to implement Flash.
A rare hard-working tengu.
It shows in the fight, too. NoBadTactics easily claws her way through a Kanako, but despite the massive level gap, Suwako buffs her evasion with her ability enough to chip away a fair bit of Godhotline's HP before a hit connects.
Hard-working but not particularly bright.
Some sake lies beyond.
Down the other fork of the path is a cheapskate youkai.
She guards (or doesn't) a hyper potion that could pay for any number of repels if sold.
This fork terminates with a ghost and a ladder leading deeper.
The ghost packs a half-ghost, who doesn't hold a candle up to NoBadTactics.
MC-kun goes where he pleases.
Aya and Hatate bash themselves uselessly against ToTheMoon with priority attacks.
Sonic the Hedgehog he isn't.
There's plenty to be found in the cave, annoying as it might be. 20% extra damage on super-effective moves would be no joke if being super-effective wasn't already almost a guarantee of a kill.
MC-kun ain't afraid of no ghost.
Especially not one which brings only a type to which NoBadTactics is immune.
I'd take yours, obsolescent.
Some take to a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, better than others.
Had she explored just a little further to the north, she'd have stumbled upon an interesting novelty item. MC-kun takes it instead.
This ghost is very cavalier about the whole situation. He doesn't even attack on sight, only after engaged in dialogue.
Moon Wheat gets her chance to do some ghost bullying.
Even the most singsong flattery won't get the ghost anywhere.
This youkai's voice echoes through the caves, deafeningly.
The Kyouko puppet is wholly unrepentant, even joining in with an echoing OHAYOU of her own.
The spirit has no reason to be so forceful. MC-kun's body is more than big enough to share.
Using ToTheMoon for most of the game at this point has instilled me with a strong understanding of just how fragile Nue is, even against many things she should counter. This one doesn't even have a style change or the inclination to spam a drain.
Nearby is the Sound-type hairpin.
There's also a ladder upward nearby. Is the cave venture nearly over or is it only getting started?
Whatever is happening, a PLF fairy is found down a fairly linear path.
Baka, as always, is given the honour of disposing of her imitators. After she misses and takes some chip damage, however, it's time to change to her hidden ability.
The linear path continues and soon MC-kun escapes the caves, back to the mountain proper.
As always, there are things to be found when interacting with random environmental objects.
I've always wanted some recreational nukes. How much are you asking?
Oh.
NoBadTactics quickly shows that sometimes you can stare down a tank and win.
A little further is the Poison-type hairpin. It also gives MC-kun a display of just how far he travelled: to either side are the cave entrance and exit.
Presumably the PLF are afoot.
MC-kun is no stranger to getting lost.
However, it doesn't seem like the kind through which he can brute-force. This screen just loops endlessly, taking you back to the sign immediately if you head east. Presumably there will be a way forward later.
MC-kun scoffs at the idea of climbing the mountain's descent.
There are benefits of not caring that everyone wants to eat you. MC-kun catches his breath sharing some mochi with a youkai. A step or two later and the screen pans to a cutscene.
MC-kun can't quite see what's happening, but he vaguely remembers the large doll that bumped into him a while back.
The fairies obey.
Meanwhile, a mysterious co-conspirator. One of the top competitors when it comes to power-level autism and one of the few survivors of the PC-98 era, it would be clear what was going on if MC-kun knew anything about 2hu.
Medicine gives her orders as authoritatively as possible, then leaves.
Yuuka can't resist a verbal snipe before she too makes her departure.
As MC-kun approaches the sound of the voices, he's stopped by the fairies. No choice to battle through them; we're on the rails.
There are more talkative youkai nearby. This one is particularly convincing.
The reason for the noncombatants' presence quickly becomes obvious. There's a rest stop nearby.
Inside, the travelling salesman carries no TMs, but all of the once-per-battle type resistance items.
Some fairly inane comments can be found inside.
Another tengu foreshadows what will probably be a future area, He looks like a crow tengu, so he's presumably lying about not having wings and simply won't take us to the castle out of youkai stubbornness. MC-kun resolves to see him exterminated once he's visited the castle in the clouds in the sky, presumably to deal with Seija.
She's right that it's all beautifully sprited, certainly.
With rocks blocking the use of the river as a shortcut, it's eastbound and up towards the abandoned village of Mayohiga.
The area's theme is a slow and sombre arrangement of the 2hu 7 stage 2 theme, as might be expected.
MC-kun quickly stumbles onto a confrontation.
The two notice and CHEEEEEEEEEN takes the opportunity to make the village someone else's problem.
The fairy isn't pleased, but MC-kun is feeling his fiery Boston blood boiling with pugnacity regardless.
ToTheMoon drains Tokiko and Mystia alike.
Chen doesn't interest MC-kun overmuch, so he continues wandering around the village. It's overrun with cats, presumably why the fairies think it belongs to her.
There are things to be found in the dilapidated houses.
A Chen to be found in the cupboard to, which I screencapped to showcase the indoors battle background.
A severely-outmatched Kogasa gets drained.
I can't help feeling peckish. What's a man to do? I only packed a small amount of food for a normal person.
There are goodies to be stolen.
As well as a surprising encounter; I was convinced until this that the area's whole encounter table was Chen. Ran gets caught, but there's no current use case for her.
Poor IVs and a typing that largely overlaps with what we already have. It's nice to get another cost 120, but she won't be all that useful.
As luck would have it, I encountered Ran on that very tile, just below a hyper potion.
Another abandoned house houses a rare priority -6 move. It doesn't seem all that useful for now, but could presumably wreak havoc against some delicately-tuned compositions.
The local fairies are very good at keeping secrets.
ToTheMoon proves an admirable fairy exterminator.
MC-kun hasn't seen any signs of building so far. They might have their lair destroyed before they've even started - probably before they've even resolved their property rights dispute.
It's time for a fight with a sunflower fairy.
We see a bit more variety this time, as NoBadTactics and Godhotline score their one-hits.
For once, the NPC calling for retreat or disappearance actually does it.
Far out in the tall grass, a symbol of faith. With that found, all that seemingly remains is to talk to Chen.
Apparently Chen was warned of MC-kun's coming.
A brief tutorial later and we have this game's Fly.
Apparently even an AI is capable of being sarcastic in the face of MC-kun's silence.
Inside, Chen has some cats, but no new dialogue.
After all this time, we finally have access to a map, complete with access to metaphysical areas. This should speed things up considerably.
Using the map has about the animation you'd expect, if you're at all familiar with the gaphag.
With an important milestone reached and the world opening up more than ever before as well as this update approaching 300 images, we'll cut this short here.
Heading further up the mountain past the shrine, MC-kun encounters a worshipper struggling with the formalities.
Gods are pushovers, friendo. Just battle them (and win, of course, like me) if they get on your nerves. 
He's also not the only fedora-tipper in the region.
I bet she has some good loot.
The ascent, meanwhile, grows ever more dramatic.
Much like many of the tengu back in the village, this one is too lazy to do her job properly.
This makes MC-kun start re-evaluating his stance towards Kanako. Nothing like some industrialisation to leave the ghouls behind.
The tengu might be lazy, but the Youkai Mountain's other inhabitants are much more enthusiastic about Kanako's brand of marketing.
The other youkai before the lake has some comments on the site itself: both the pillars and the greater region. MC-kun knew none of it, but doesn't really care either. He's still in the aftershocks of his violent Marvelgasm.
Learning that the lake was imported isn't enough to stop him from sailing it.
There's plenty to see: it's a massive lake, dotted with the pillars.
There are also items to be found. This one lies just off the edge of the lake itself.
Others, meanwhile, require bolder sailing.
MC-kun's fear is less about the waterfall and more about the amount of cycling he'll have to do to regain the lost altitude. At least you don't have to walk down a waterfall.
Eventually, however, he manages. There's nothing to do at Suwako's shrine for now, however.
Passage further up towards the peak of the mountain is also blocked by boat, leaving only a grass-overgrown footpath.
Another charm with no current use case.
Nearby, a route deeper into the woods.
That leads to a clearing with a lot of crates and a hut. MC-kun starts rifling through them and, sure enough, they're all packed with dumplings.
Eventually, his pilfering catches the eye of one of the inhabitants.
We didn't actually encounter Seiran and Ringo in the flesh in the Lunar Capital, with that absence despite them being catchable now getting an explanation.
Seiran doesn't instantly defeat MC-kun like the other Lunarians, however, and immediately launches into battle.
Rei'sen is fast, but she can only ineffectually chip away at ToTheMoon before being drained.
Moon Wheat switches in to take a shot at the lesser Lunarian, but shows her weakness, getting dropped just below half HP on switch-in.
I'm not about to let her repeat that performance, so the job instead falls to NoBadTactics, who no-sells Seiran's lightning and then effortlessly eliminates her.
NoBadTactics sticks around for what turns into a vicious two-turn slugfest with Ringo as each survives the other's first attack despite mutual type advantages.
NoBadTactics, however, is faster and thus strikes first to claim her victory.
Do you know who I am?
Seiran did a number on a Toyohime eight levels her superior, but she's still right: even the rabbits on the moon didn't permit a fight.
I know all about that, friendo. I'm a regular in the Lunar Capital.Leaving the bemused rabbit before she can comment, MC-kun continues to loot her camp and examine the new skills some Puppets acquired in the fight.
Deplorable acquires a drain, but with her abysmal Focus Attack, I'd rather stick with Continue for healing.
NoBadTactics, meanwhile, acquires a solid Dark move. She completes her journey to an edgy skillset by dropping Light Javelin for it: Godhotline covers that niche nicely at this point.
The crates both contain healing dumplings, just like the ones outside.
The same is true of the area's other storeroom, with even more crates alongside some slightly more interesting items.
The TM is also useful, for once. Moon Wheat picks up a slightly better water attack.
Orderly rocks block further passage by water, as they so often do, so there's little of the camp left to explore.
Do I know you?MC-kun decides not to mention that he caught a Ringo a good while back.
Like Seiran before her, Ringo opens with a Rei'sen, but we've finally reached a level where there's some differentiation between them: Seiran went for speed, while Ringo goes for power.
She makes a good test subject for NoBadTactics' new skill.
Next up is a Defence Seiran, who has a whole lot of type weaknesses, some of which NoBadTactics covers.
Last up is a Defence Ringo. She has a weakness to Dark and thus could easily have eaten a Dark Sphere, but I decide to give the fight to Godhotline instead. It turns out that she doesn't exactly have a great moveset for the job: she's got two Steel-type moves and both have just 60 power against a cost 90 Puppet like Ringo. She really suffers against weaker opponents.
It was over 9 000 all along, pal.
Not a very well-kept one.
Both already knowing and having defeated Seiran, MC-kun decides that he's done all he can. Unfortunately, it seems that the rabbits aren't yet ready to purify the earth, nor do they want his help to do so. The cleansing of the ghouls will have to wait.
Indeed, that concludes MC-kun's business at the Moriya Shrine. One nap in Sanae's bed later and he's back to the wild slopes of Youkai Mountain proper.
With a snap of MC-kun's fingers, the one of the two rocks blocking the path disintegrates.
A short distance down the once-blocked path, MC-kun is stopped by a security tengu.
In a step down from the shrine, we're back to seeing unstyled Puppets. Godhotline effortlessly cleaves through a pair of Momiji.
Nothing personnel, kid. I just happen to believe that there is (almost) no such thing as bad tactics, only bad targets.
No.
It's been a while since we've encountered a Mystia, but this trainer packs three. All, unfortunately for her, are extremely vulnerable to Godhotline.
She's in no state to care, however.
Not everyone has the deepest motivations.
Nor the deepest encounter design, for that matter. Moon Wheat does her best to spice things up and kills each Yamame with a different super-effective move.
Further down the mountain is a rare sight. MC-kun wouldn't have the first idea of where to get started with danmaku, so he ignores the tengu altogether and heads on his way.
There is a catch to be had on the road. When we first reached the descent, an NPC was looking for a Kasen, so it's probably for the best to snag the definitely-a-human-she-swears.
Doesn't seem terrible, but I don't really have a use case and just grabbed her because she was mentioned as being rare.
Food is left lying about on the path.
But before MC-kun can return to his spelunking habits, he's accosted by a tengu.
Godhotline slices and dices her way through a Momiji, then reminds the cost 110 Aya that her steel moves are only bad against weak Puppets.
Leaving the honest and ethical journalist to do his thing, MC-kun enters the cave.
To MC-kun, who barely pays attention to items, this comes as a revelation.
Unfortunately for her, ToTheMoon cleanly counters her whole team.
The Superpower Glove would be in tears if it were capable of comprehending MC-kun's feelings (and intentions) toward it.
This is the sort of cave that branches. MC-kun proceeds to explore, thanking his lucky stars that the devs of this game didn't care to implement Flash.
A rare hard-working tengu.
It shows in the fight, too. NoBadTactics easily claws her way through a Kanako, but despite the massive level gap, Suwako buffs her evasion with her ability enough to chip away a fair bit of Godhotline's HP before a hit connects.
Hard-working but not particularly bright.
Some sake lies beyond.
Down the other fork of the path is a cheapskate youkai.
She guards (or doesn't) a hyper potion that could pay for any number of repels if sold.
This fork terminates with a ghost and a ladder leading deeper.
The ghost packs a half-ghost, who doesn't hold a candle up to NoBadTactics.
MC-kun goes where he pleases.
Aya and Hatate bash themselves uselessly against ToTheMoon with priority attacks.
Sonic the Hedgehog he isn't.
There's plenty to be found in the cave, annoying as it might be. 20% extra damage on super-effective moves would be no joke if being super-effective wasn't already almost a guarantee of a kill.
MC-kun ain't afraid of no ghost.
Especially not one which brings only a type to which NoBadTactics is immune.
I'd take yours, obsolescent.
Some take to a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, better than others.
Had she explored just a little further to the north, she'd have stumbled upon an interesting novelty item. MC-kun takes it instead.
This ghost is very cavalier about the whole situation. He doesn't even attack on sight, only after engaged in dialogue.
Moon Wheat gets her chance to do some ghost bullying.
Even the most singsong flattery won't get the ghost anywhere.
This youkai's voice echoes through the caves, deafeningly.
The Kyouko puppet is wholly unrepentant, even joining in with an echoing OHAYOU of her own.
The spirit has no reason to be so forceful. MC-kun's body is more than big enough to share.
Using ToTheMoon for most of the game at this point has instilled me with a strong understanding of just how fragile Nue is, even against many things she should counter. This one doesn't even have a style change or the inclination to spam a drain.
Nearby is the Sound-type hairpin.
There's also a ladder upward nearby. Is the cave venture nearly over or is it only getting started?
Whatever is happening, a PLF fairy is found down a fairly linear path.
Baka, as always, is given the honour of disposing of her imitators. After she misses and takes some chip damage, however, it's time to change to her hidden ability.
The linear path continues and soon MC-kun escapes the caves, back to the mountain proper.
As always, there are things to be found when interacting with random environmental objects.
I've always wanted some recreational nukes. How much are you asking?
Oh.
NoBadTactics quickly shows that sometimes you can stare down a tank and win.
A little further is the Poison-type hairpin. It also gives MC-kun a display of just how far he travelled: to either side are the cave entrance and exit.
Presumably the PLF are afoot.
MC-kun is no stranger to getting lost.
However, it doesn't seem like the kind through which he can brute-force. This screen just loops endlessly, taking you back to the sign immediately if you head east. Presumably there will be a way forward later.
MC-kun scoffs at the idea of climbing the mountain's descent.
There are benefits of not caring that everyone wants to eat you. MC-kun catches his breath sharing some mochi with a youkai. A step or two later and the screen pans to a cutscene.
MC-kun can't quite see what's happening, but he vaguely remembers the large doll that bumped into him a while back.
The fairies obey.
Meanwhile, a mysterious co-conspirator. One of the top competitors when it comes to power-level autism and one of the few survivors of the PC-98 era, it would be clear what was going on if MC-kun knew anything about 2hu.
Medicine gives her orders as authoritatively as possible, then leaves.
Yuuka can't resist a verbal snipe before she too makes her departure.
As MC-kun approaches the sound of the voices, he's stopped by the fairies. No choice to battle through them; we're on the rails.
There are more talkative youkai nearby. This one is particularly convincing.
The reason for the noncombatants' presence quickly becomes obvious. There's a rest stop nearby.
Inside, the travelling salesman carries no TMs, but all of the once-per-battle type resistance items.
Some fairly inane comments can be found inside.
Another tengu foreshadows what will probably be a future area, He looks like a crow tengu, so he's presumably lying about not having wings and simply won't take us to the castle out of youkai stubbornness. MC-kun resolves to see him exterminated once he's visited the castle in the clouds in the sky, presumably to deal with Seija.
She's right that it's all beautifully sprited, certainly.
With rocks blocking the use of the river as a shortcut, it's eastbound and up towards the abandoned village of Mayohiga.
The area's theme is a slow and sombre arrangement of the 2hu 7 stage 2 theme, as might be expected.
MC-kun quickly stumbles onto a confrontation.
The two notice and CHEEEEEEEEEN takes the opportunity to make the village someone else's problem.
The fairy isn't pleased, but MC-kun is feeling his fiery Boston blood boiling with pugnacity regardless.
ToTheMoon drains Tokiko and Mystia alike.
Chen doesn't interest MC-kun overmuch, so he continues wandering around the village. It's overrun with cats, presumably why the fairies think it belongs to her.
There are things to be found in the dilapidated houses.
A Chen to be found in the cupboard to, which I screencapped to showcase the indoors battle background.
A severely-outmatched Kogasa gets drained.
I can't help feeling peckish. What's a man to do? I only packed a small amount of food for a normal person.
There are goodies to be stolen.
As well as a surprising encounter; I was convinced until this that the area's whole encounter table was Chen. Ran gets caught, but there's no current use case for her.
Poor IVs and a typing that largely overlaps with what we already have. It's nice to get another cost 120, but she won't be all that useful.
As luck would have it, I encountered Ran on that very tile, just below a hyper potion.
Another abandoned house houses a rare priority -6 move. It doesn't seem all that useful for now, but could presumably wreak havoc against some delicately-tuned compositions.
The local fairies are very good at keeping secrets.
ToTheMoon proves an admirable fairy exterminator.
MC-kun hasn't seen any signs of building so far. They might have their lair destroyed before they've even started - probably before they've even resolved their property rights dispute.
It's time for a fight with a sunflower fairy.
We see a bit more variety this time, as NoBadTactics and Godhotline score their one-hits.
For once, the NPC calling for retreat or disappearance actually does it.
Far out in the tall grass, a symbol of faith. With that found, all that seemingly remains is to talk to Chen.
Apparently Chen was warned of MC-kun's coming.
A brief tutorial later and we have this game's Fly.
Apparently even an AI is capable of being sarcastic in the face of MC-kun's silence.
Inside, Chen has some cats, but no new dialogue.
After all this time, we finally have access to a map, complete with access to metaphysical areas. This should speed things up considerably.
Using the map has about the animation you'd expect, if you're at all familiar with the gaphag.
With an important milestone reached and the world opening up more than ever before as well as this update approaching 300 images, we'll cut this short here.
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