Part 33
This should have been up yesterday, but Undertale is a really good game you guys.Anyway unlike PCB, FMW I significantly changes up the events of Imperishable Night. As such, instead of comparing each stage to its FMW equivalent, I'll shotgun through IN and then FMW I's interpretation of it.
IN Prologue
Where PCB's prologue started with a large infodump on the setting, IN's assumes you already know the score and gets right to the details:
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Times are peaceful as usual.
From a human perspective, anyway.
However, all youkai were upset.
What's really happening is that, without anyone taking notice, suddenly... The full moon has disappeared from Gensokyo's night.
Even on the night of a supposed full moon, a bit of missing light prevents it from being full. It's no wonder that humans aren't aware of the situation, though; it's only the tiniest bit of difference.
For non-humans, however, a moon that isn't full doesn't function at all. It's an especially critical problem for those who dislike sunlight.
A human and youkai, a team of two, ventured out into Gensokyo's midnight hours to retrieve the missing fragment of the moon and restore the full moon.
They will stop the night if need be.
Even if it becomes an imperishable night.
Upping the ante even further from PCB's three characters, Imperishable Night features four selectable teams: Reimu/Yukari, Marisa/Alice, Sakuya/Remilia, and Youmu/Yuyuko. The youkai half of the selected team will notice the fake moon and asks/order the human half for help. The pair will proceed to stop the night (Yukari uses her power, Alice probably casts a spell with the Grimoire, Sakuya freezes time and... I dunno, Youmu steals dawn? Yuyuko gets Yukari to help?) and sets off in search of the culprit.
You get all of that? Because that's not the real prologue. IN's actual start is mentioned in Kaguya's character profile:
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Kaguya, Eirin and Reisen were enjoying their peaceful life. Gensokyo makes everyone easy-going and peaceful... It really was like a paradise.
On one night of a full moon, Reisen received a transmission from other surviving moon rabbits. (Moon rabbits have some kind of telepathic ability and can communicate across great distances.) It said:
"These filthy humans are exploiting the power of the moon and trying to build a base here. We've been urging them co-exist peacefully with us, but they never listen. We're up against a wall.
We've decided to declare a final war against them. The tide of war is currently slightly in their favour... Their modern weaponry is far better than we expected. But don't worry, we have the wisdom and pride of our millennia of history... We will never lose.
Dear Reisen, a war will be starting soon. Please come back and fight at our side.
Also, please tell the humans you're living with... That we're coming to take you back with us on the next full moon. Refusal is not an option."
Reisen relays the message, and actually decides to obey the orders. Kaguya, on the other hand, realizes that her and Eirin are still wanted criminals and asks Eirin to do something about it.
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Kaguya had a discussion with Eirin, then decided to defend Reisen from the moon's emissaries. But if they kill the emissaries, they'll have to go into hiding for a long time again. If only there was a way to make it impossible for the emissaries to reach them, then they would never have to hide again.
Just as Kaguya was about to finish speaking, Eirin presented her solution.
"If we remove the full moon from Earth, then the path between Earth and the Moon will be closed. A full moon from Earth is what makes it possible for them to come here. That's why the Lunarians only visit on nights with a full moon. If we corrupt that full moon... Earth will become a large, sealed chamber."
As a bit of dramatic irony, Kaguya's profile also adds that this plan was completely pointless. The Great Hakurei Barrier separating Gensokyo from reality also prevents it from being invaded by the Lunarians.
IN Stage 1-3
In true Touhou tradition, the bosses of stages 1, 2 and 3 are totally unrelated to the incident and just get beaten up for being in the way. Though Keine, at least, was doing something vaguely important. Uneasy with the eternal night, she ate the history of the Human Village so it would be invisible to any youkai looking to take advantage of the night. This causes the player team to think she straight up removed the village for good, though, causing the boss fight.
IN Stage 4
By Stage 4, the protagonist team has reached the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. But they're cut off midway by one of the main characters, who correctly accuses them of being responsible for the eternal night. The player team pretty much just blows them off (though Alice, at least, attempts to explain that the moon is the real problem) and they fight. Border and Ghost Teams face Marisa, while Magic and Scarlet Teams battle Reimu. After a long, drawn out fight, the player team stumbles upon the House of Eternity.
IN Stage 5
There they enter an infinite hallway and blow up Tewi, a voiceless midboss,
and then they run into Reisen, who was in the middle of sealing all of the doors to keep Kaguya hidden. She exposits a bit about what's going on, then Eirin comes in to order Reisen to stall for more time.
After beating Reisen, a choice pops up if the player has already cleared the game with the current player team and hasn't used a continue. IN has two final stages, with the second one (6B) being the correct one.
IN Stage 6A
But if you do end up with 6A, the player team chases after and confronts Eirin. They demand her to return the real moon, and she's only happy to do so. Thing is, she'll just take it back next full moon! Her goal is to protect Kaguya, so as far as she's concerned she's won since she lured the player team away from her.
Once Eirin loses, Kaguya pops up to lend her a hand. Afterwards, the player will get that team's Normal Ending, where they resolve to not screw up again next time. Which is kind of confusing since that technically means IN had to have taken place over the course of two playthroughs, but it obviously didn't since Stages 1-5 have the same dialogue.
IN Stage 6B
Upon successfully reaching 6B, the player team beats up Eirin again then meets Kaguya. She is incredibly bored and fights them because why not.
Once she goes down, she realizes that the player team is the one freezing the night, and as one final fuck you she tries to destabilize the eternal night.
Endings
Imperishable Night has twelve endings, with a Bad, Normal, and Good for each team. Only Scarlet Team's Good ending (where they discuss going to the moon) shows up in FMW I, with some of its dialogue being referenced next chapter.
Extra Stage
The Extra stage's prologue is Kaguya siccing the player team on Mokou on a full moon night just because she can. She claims it's a "trial of guts".
EX Keine attempts to stop them from reaching Mokou, but is swatted aside.
At first, Mokou tries to tell the player team off for being dumb enough to come into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost on a full moon, but she quickly realizes that Kaguya sent them. It turns out it's a trial of guts because literally eating Mokou's guts will make someone immortal, but none of the human player characters actually decide to go for it.
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...Not a cloud in the sky. I can see the moon clearly.
FMW I starts off similar to IN, with Reisen getting a message from the moon. But instead of personally receiving an order, she picks up on the moon's efforts to catch the fleeing Rabbit.
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C'mon! They're gonna send tons of lunar envoys after me, right?! If that happens, you won't escape unharmed either, right?! Just help me out!
Rabbit lies like crazy in an effort to get Reisen to sympathize with her, causing Reisen to freak out. She reports to Eirin, and Kaguya walks in midway.
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...I'm sure you have a plan. How are we doing this, Eirin?
We'll get rid of the rabbit. Of course, that alone won't be enough to completely stop her pursuers. To deal with those, we should use a strategy I thought up a while ago.
And in another difference Eirin has already decided to take action instead of waiting to see what Kaguya wanted.
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By holding back the boundary between day and night, I'm preventing the morning from arriving. As long as my power holds, that moon will never sink.
Where IN had only one of the four teams do anything, FMW I has all four set off separately. Border Team is chosen as the "player character", which sets up Magic Team as the stage 4 boss.
Meanwhile Scarlet and Ghost Teams get reduced to sideshows. Remilia doesn't even come along at all at first, and Ghost Team almost immediately joins up with Border Team.
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This game is Curtain Fire Shooting Game.
Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please watch warmly until it is ready.
Paradisiac moon was broken! This incident is unprecedented serious affair.
Imperishable Night's initial loading screen notes that this incident is actually really serious, and this is reflected by all of the established big guns joining the investigation.
Stages 1 and 2 are played fairly straight,
but Stage 3 is thrown out entirely. Since Keine is busy with Mokou, there's nobody around to protect the Human Village. It's lucky that Reimu's group swung around when they did, or else Nue could have caused some serious havoc.
And while Reimu is off following IN's stage sequence, Marisa skips to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost to focus on her own plot. She runs into Tewi, who is looking for Rabbit.
Reisen also makes an early cameo in Reimu's upgrade chapter. While the House of Eternity had no idea the player team was doing anything until they actually invaded in IN, here Eirin is well aware that they're an enemy and tries to swiftly get rid of them.
Stage 4 still has Reimu and Marisa fight, but the tone is changed. Instead of a completely pointless battle that happens because both sides can't be assed to effectively communicate, it's only a mostly pointless battle that is entirely for fun and bragging rights.
FMW I also acknowledges that the two main characters really don't have time to be fighting amongst themselves, so they each only use one spell.
Things go off the rails upon reaching the House of Eternity. The team goes through the Extra stage boss fights before even getting to Stage 5, and for very different reasons than in IN.
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Hey, what's going on down there?!
That rabbit from earlier set another trap! She ran into that door over there!
Tell everyone else that we're going after her!
Stage 5 itself is skipped, with the team getting past the infinite hallway in a chapter prologue. The Stage 6 choice is thrown out entirely, with the team just going through both.
Stage 6A sees Reisen and Tewi being fought for real,
Scarlet Team making its grand appearance, and Eirin being forced to flee to 6B. The army gives chase since there was no attempt made to seal off where Kaguya is.
Finally Stage 6B is played fairly straight. Eirin is defeated first, Kaguya challenges the army for fun, and at the end she tries to break the eternal night herself. Mokou gets on her soapbox a little, though,
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which convinces Kaguya to give up on her boring eternity and become a true member of Gensokyo.
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Kaguya, Eirin and Reisen have come out of hiding and are living freely in Eientei.
So, what was the outcome of the Moon War? That didn't matter to Kaguya anymore; Gensokyo is now her home...
This is in line with the end of Kaguya's character profile.
Where IN doesn't really resolve the Lunarian situation, FMW I has Rabbit sheepishly reveal that she was totally lying about being chased. This is actually important, for reasons I'll explain in the next source material post.
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At this point, you've probably noticed that Rabbit wasn't in the original IN at all. What's her deal? Well...
Imperishable Night has a sequel, kind of. Touhou Bougetsushou (literally Eastern Ephemeral Moon Vignette [which itself is patterned after IN's japanese name "Eastern Eternal
EDIT: Whoops.