Part 57: Into the Depths of Maddening Darkness - Part 3

Time for the Lunatic playthrough!



All things considered, Chapter 14 Lunatic isn't that much different from Normal.



I mean, yeah, the standard Lunatic gimmicks like thicker danmaku and more aggressive enemies are still in,



and Patchouli is both tougher and has Spirits to ruin your day with,



but in the end it's still the same basic strategy: send a main strike force with Support Defenders to Patchouli and have two clean-up crews on the side.



So let's talk about something different. It's hard to tell since the screen darkens anytime a Spellcard goes off, but there are some interesting things around the map. On the wall with Flandre's door are a bunch of magic circles (which you can see in-battle),



And on the ground are a few... uh... torches? Can someone translate that? A couple have been destroyed, probably from the earthquakes.




There are also some broken pillars, and of course the stairs the team entered from.



Back to gameplay. I suppose the only real difference to the plan is that you can't just send Marisa and Alice out on their own anymore. They must be sticking next to Support Defenders because otherwise Patchouli will murder them with Strike'd Silent Selenes.



Speaking of Support Defenders, this time around I'm letting Keine activate Berserk Lvl 9 to see how little damage she can take.



So of course Patchouli targeted Nitori or people Nitori was covering for the rest of the chapter.



In other news, Youmu is cruising along the side path to Patchouli.



This is a fully upgraded Level 20 Nitori, with Berserk Lvl 9 and Guard on. I think that says a lot about how much damage Patchouli can do.



Good thing I can outheal her! Getting Dai to WP Level 3 is actually something I make a priority on my Lunatic playthroughs by the way, so this part is totally legitimate.



Over 7000 damage a turn.



By the way, while Marisa and Alice share Proto Malice attack power now (both of their versions do 3600), Marisa's higher Range stat makes her do a decent chunk more.



Another salvo of Proto Malice, and I'm already almost done. I'll wait until next turn to finish her though, so I can one turn Royal Flare.



Also I decided to just give up on Keine's possible super defense and heal her.



These bats are going to cost me the Bonus. Oh well.



Nitori and Keine are unable to fully deplete the first healthbar,



So Dai does it.



Royal Flare's field is larger on Lunatic, but it really doesn't matter since I'm going to just rush Patchouli.


Watch the final turn!














Okay, that was not the finish I was expecting (why didn't anyone get a single critical until the end?), but that worked out. I even got the Bonus.

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Now for the Intermission. While obviously I can't upgrade my units anymore, I can rearrange their items. And the next chapter is actually so hard on Lunatic that even with a maxed out team I need every edge I can get.



Reimu's packing her standard layout. The next chapter isn't Night terrain either so the Firefly Gem is unnecessary, but I need something to fill up Reimu's inventory.



Marisa has the N-Shooter and the Sunflower to deal with both of her issues at once.



Keine has an Oni's Nail and the Tengu Clogs. Since you can't get a Tengu Fan on Marisa's route without missing out on the Marisa-Alice Support, you have to give the Clogs to Keine so she can keep up.



Nitori is loaded out with two bottles of Ginjou Sake. With Extending Arm+, she can use these to heal others, and as you'll soon see I'll need all the healing I can get.



Alice is carrying a Beer and a Rat's Tail. Mobility honestly isn't all that handy for the final boss since she has Strike, but there's not much else Alice can use.



Youmu has the Grimoire and a Beer. I want to be able to use as many Meditation Slashes as possible.



Rumia has an Oni's Nail boosting her durability a bit and a bottle of Ginjou Sake in case she runs out of SP from casting Vigor too much.



Dai is packing a bunch of other crap I have along with two bottles of sake. As the healer, it's incredibly important to keep her alive, and I don't want to blow her Trusts on herself.



Finally, Cirno just holds everything else.



100 turns, 210 WP, an average level of 20, and a shit ton of Points. What a nice intermission screen to enter hell from.

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Music: Soul of Scarlet

Here's a preview of chapter 15:



Doesn't look that intimidating compared to Chapter 11, huh? Well Flandre is about to prove that quality beats quantity.