Part 44: Cherry Blossom Barrier Above the Clouds Part 1

Clarste has actually finished translating the main scenario at this point. None can match his speed.

You'll have to wait on the translations of some of the attack videos for a while. Sorry, it was either that or post this update when Ryza gets back on like twelve hours later.

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I get Alice Focused Movement on a random whim.



And Koakuma gets Morale (so she can build Power for Silent Selene) and Unfocused Movement.

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Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text

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While I did say you didn't have to worry about all of your characters joining midway through a fight again, everyone on Reimu's side just joined so I can't upgrade them or change their equipment.

This chapter is such a joke that it doesn't matter though.

What a view! I'm shaking from excitement.

You've always liked high places, Sunny.

Like, uh, something and smoke.

Stop messing around, you three! We're almost at the Netherworld, so prepare yourselves.

Don't be so hard on them, let them enjoy the sunlight while they can. And it is a nice view.

And that would be the gate, right?

Yeah, no doubt about it.



That's the Netherworld Barrier, the boundary between this world and the next.

What a huge door... I've never seen one so big.

!

Lily zooms forward.

What's gotten into you all of a sudden, Lily?

It's spring! Spring is right on the other side of that door!

It's spring, everyone!



Lily powers up.

What? So spring's leaking out from that door?

Apparently. If Lily's this cheerful, then we were right to come to the Netherworld.

So now we just have to get in through-



That took longer than I expected.

She's from that Prizbear Sample!

Prismriver Ensemble. What's wrong with your head?

You know them?

Yes, we met them earlier. Apparently they're sisters in a band together.

The perfectionist who reads even the air pressure Lunasa, the spinning manager Merlin, and last but not least the marvelous Lyrica!

These are references to the Prismrivers' Bohemian Archive articles.

That's right, thanks for the introduction!

These three seem to know who's behind all this.

But if they're meeting us out here, then there's definitely something going on in the Netherworld.

Well, there's no point in hiding it now.

Today we have a gig at the Netherworld's flower viewing party. It's our job to liven things up with music!

I see. In other words, the mastermind gathered all this spring just to hold a party in the Netherworld?

How tasteless. We should break in and end this.

Sorry, but you're not on the guest list.

Most of the PCB quotes from this chapter are adapted from Reimu's route, incidentally.

Naturally, we have to deal with any remaining noise that might disturb our performance.

Well, it's not like we weren't gonna fight anyway. I'm ready for anything!

Let's just deal with these three and crash that party!


The bonus mostly exists to encourage you to see the boss conversations, since instead of everyone having a conversation with each of the sisters, each character can only talk to one sister.



This is the epitome of a filler chapter. It exists mostly to help the characters from the other route split catch up.



Finding spring has buffed Lily up. No longer is she a useless lump, now she's a slightly offensive Dai!



She's one of the few player characters with a MAP, so that's neat at least.



Chapter 30 is the first we'll see of generic Ghost enemies. These larger guys are pretty much stronger sunflower fairies.

As I understand it, the Luck spirit has a secondary effect that has something to do with attacking ghosts. I can't make heads or tails of it though.

Music: The Snow White Angel of Spring (Rally)


_{Am I the only one who pretends this is a Moonlight Butterfly reference?}



It's hard to see with those clouds in the way, but here's the radius of Lily's MAP, "It's Spring!". It moves her, so I need to actually mark where I want her to stop before I use it.





I decided to take my time with this chapter and catch up all of my lower leveled units. As a reminder, in SRW games experience gains scale with the level difference between characters. So Rumia, who is five levels lower, is getting something like 200 XP from each Fairy. Meanwhile Marisa, who is two levels higher, gets maybe 10.

Music: Shiny Transblue

I really like your music, it's so lively.

Yeah? Doesn't it just make you wanna start to you know what~?

I know what you mean. Like this...

Hiyaaaa! Haaaaa! Achaaaa!

...Ah, sorry. That's not what we do.



The Prismrivers are not particularly impressive.



Their danmaku effects are annoying, though. Lunasa's hasn't activated yet, but it's the same as in 29R.

A concert, hm? The mistress might enjoy one. I'm sure it's expensive though, right?

Don't worry about your wallet, it'll be fine! Is your mistress the type to go wild when she listens to music?

Well... I'd say she's more the type to go wild even without music.

Huh~. Maybe I should leave this one to Lunasa then...



Screenshots don't really do the Prismrivers justice; there are cute little sound effects for a lot of their attacks. I really recommend watching the video.

You look pretty noisy, unlike your sister.

You sure about that? When Lunasa's loud, she's loud. Like, she's totally cool with shattering windows with her noise.

...Is that some kind of sonic attack? I've never thought of that before.



I actually had Mokou suicide herself for that chat.

Your sound is... artificial. You pull the strings of human shapes, and hold the power to spin fate.

Um... you went a bit too poetic there, so I'm not sure what you were talking about.

Sorry, I got carried away.

Music: Luna crescente



Your sound is...

...

Um... did something happen?

No, you're gloomy enough already. You should be listening to Merlin's performance, not mine.

...



Your sound is...

...

What's wrong? Weren't you going to tell me what kind of sound I have?

No, I can hear a crinkling sound from in your clothes... the sound of chocolate.

So you can hear things like that too...







Besides the obvious ones (Reimu-Lunasa, Marisa-Lyrica, Sakuya-Merlin), I actually don't know who has a conversation with which sister. So aside from constantly paging Ryza to check the script for me, I just had to guess. Everyone I had attacking Lyrica came up short.

Well, at least there's always Marisa.

That barrier is amazing. It's like I'd never be able to solve it.

Well, yeah, there's no way an amateur would. The secret password is a trade secret!

Au pas, camarade...

Sorry, you're wrong!

Well, whatever. We can just open it after we beat you three!

Music: Your Sparkling Sound



The dialogue for the rest of the chapter changes slightly depending on which sister you beat first.



Also Marisa finally learned Strike!

Well, I think that's enough for a greeting.

You're being too rough! I thought we had finally become friends!

I was surprised we were fighting three at once, but looks like we'll manage.

The opponents may be a band, but our teamwork is better!

Ha, you'll regret it if you take us lightly. There's only one thing left to do then. Go get 'em, sisters!

How about no?

If you want to make friends, then show them your cool side.

Do I have to? Well, I guess we are at our best performing together.

The three bunch up.

Why are they gathering together? Are they up to something?

We, the Prismriver Poltergeist Band, are, after all, an ensemble.

Mic, okay. Lighting, okay. We're good to go!

Might as well give our usual intro.

Cue a long sequence of introductions interspersed with drumrolls and spotlights.

Starting from the center! With a transcendent technique as cool as the moon! A peerless performance unmatched by anyone...

On the violin, Lunasa Prismriver!



And on the right! With an undeniable passion as bright as the sun! All who hear her agree!

On the trumpet, Merlin Prismriver!



And finally, the left. With a sound as phantasmal as the twinkling stars in the sky, she can carry a melody with its own mood swings.

On the keyboard, Lyrica Prismriver.



Music: The Netherworld's Prism Phantoms

Yay!

Wh-wha... what's going on here?!

Well, obviously they're starting their concert!

What's a concert?

It's a kind of musical performance that's popular with the youth. When you start feeling it, wave your arms around like this or just start screaming.

What, it's that scary?

No, I mean, well, I guess it's like a high pitched cheer?

The perils of cross-cultural conversations.

Good, we're all on the same wavelength now.

I think the mood's just right to rock 'em, ladies.

Right on!



All three combine into one unit.

Welcome to the Prismriver Phantom Ensemble's surprise guerilla concert!

With this first piece, we'll show you a rainbow.

Here we go! One, two, three!






Prism Concerto has a real mess of effects.



Now that Aquarion has formed the Prismrivers have fused, they're sort of threatening now! As the one in front, Lunasa's stats are the ones powering everything. I'm... not sure on the details (the .dat wasn't very enlightening), but I think that in this game her stats are the average of all three sisters? It might not even do anything special and just run everything off of Lunasa's base stats, who knows.

Oh, and if you attack the Prismriver Sisters with any character, you'll automatically get the conversation that character would have had with one of the individual sisters. I guess I'm not escaping boss convo hell that easily.

Well, someone's a grump!

Shut up. The presence of spring is just making me sleepy.

It's cause you're not in the groove! If you were really riding the groove, you could stay up two or three nights, no problem!



I feel like the Prismrivers' cut-in looks kind of weird.

What's that spinning instrument called?

This one's a trumpet. Best spinner there ever was.

The one that spins a bit less is a tuba, and the least spinny is a trombone.

Spinny~!

Spinny~!



Whoops, turned animations off.

You've got a much better sound now than when we last met. Have you managed to take back your role as herald of spring?

Yes, I want to go back to the surface and tell everyone the wonderful news!

I'm sure the creatures of Gensokyo are getting sick of waiting by now.



Of all the stars out there to deal with, a rival?

Starlight has the important job of harmonizing the sun and the moon. You know that, right?

Of course I do! I'm the Silent Starlight, Star Sapphire!

Wait, we're introducing ourselves again? In that case...

I'm Your Sparkling Sound, Lyrica Prismriver!


Shouldn't you be, like, fighting Lunasa?

What do you mean?

I mean, I'm the sun in our little gang. And she's the moon, so...

That's true, but... They're both the leaders, so Sunny stole my spot.


Your sound is... humorous. When it's strong it's strong, but when it's weak it's truly pathetic.

So, was that a compliment? Or was it an insult?

Something fun happens on the next turn.

Ugh. They seemed like a joke, but these girls are pretty tough.

Their sound is good, but too bad we don't have time to listen.

Hey, Sunny, did they just...

Yeah, they stole our theme! We're supposed to be the sun, the moon, and the stars around here!

If that's how they're going to play it, we have to use our trump card!

We have a trump card?

Isn't it obvious?! We combine!

We can combine?!

You can combine?!

They can combine!

I think you know exactly what's being referenced.

Combine...

That's impossible. We've never done that.

You never know until you try! If we all just squish together it'll work out somehow!

The three fairies fly near each other.

Ha, copycats. It's not that easy you know!

...! No... they might just pull it off.

The three fairies fuse!

Music: Our Hearts Still Shine Brightly

I've been called stupid and useless, a fairy who's only good for her cheerfulness!

I somehow trip over my own feet, and if I can't run away I'll hide...

I get the other two to do all the hard work for me!

We are!

The Fairy Combination!

The Three Fairies of Light!

Who...

The heck...

Do you think we are?!



They even cast Valor for good measure.

Whoa, awesome!

What's going on? The three fairies combined into one unit?

Their lines were all over the place, but I like their style.

We can't look down on them. Let's raise the pitch ourselves.



The Prismrivers get pumped too.

Grr.... we can't let them show us up! Let's combine too, Shizuha!

I'd like to combine with Marisa...

If you didn't convince Nitori, Cirno will muse about fusing with Dai instead. Kind of a random decision.

...I'm not going to dignify that with a response. Can we please just concentrate on the battle?



Now that the Three Fairies have done their thing, the defeat condition changes to all allies being defeated.



So I know what you're thinking: hah! The thread was right to constantly force me into using the three fairies. Well you'd be wrong, because there's actually zero point to even bothering to deploy Sunny, Luna and Star before this chapter. Like I said, SRW games scale experience gains to level differences. Even if you never used them the entire game, you could easily just feed the Prismrivers to the Three Fairies and catch them up immediately.

What using them across the game does do is get the three some PP, except even then it's barely anything. I think Luna and Star have maybe one more level of SP Up than normal? I guess that's something, even if all three have such redundant spirit lists that it's still kind of meaningless.

As a tangent, in the early versions of the game any passive skills Luna and Star had would also be funneled into the combined form. This mean you could get Unfocused Movement on all three and essentially be in permanent Accel.



On the plus side, the fairies are stronger now, and are even size M so they don't have to worry about penalties anymore. Unfortunately they have a whopping one post-movement attack and burn through MP like crazy. So, um, yeah. The Three Fairies of Light kind of suck.

In battle, anyways. When it comes to timing out spells the Three Fairies can't be beat. Between two Alerts, Grit, Guard, Focus, two forms of self-healing, and HP Regen (S), they're unkillable. They're a decent fallback strategy on Lunatic if a chapter's kicking your ass.



Their one post-move attack is pretty funny.



It's also still really weak, even with Valor. I don't know what's going on with the Three Fairies' stat situation either.



Good thing Letty was there to clean up.

Well, that's one down.

Looks like we've got quite a noisy crowd tonight.

Now that they're all worked up, which one are we playing next?

They haven't even broken a sweat. Meanwhile, I'm completely out of breath.

Lady Patchouli, you should rest a bit. Don't push yourself.

The whole point of a concert is for everyone to enjoy themselves. If you need a break, then take one.

I'm sure you'll regret missing this next song for the rest of your life though.

They're attacking again!

Be careful, this one feels stronger than before!

This one's an Illusionary Concerto woven by our trinity. In the end, our specialty is pure noise.

Living or dead, we don't care! Listen and be happy!

Our performance will pierce the clouds and reach the heavens! We're raising the tempo, try to keep up!






Ghostly Wheel Concerto Grosso's danmaku effect is why I said I wasn't sure how the Prismrivers' stats work in this game. In FMW3 it's like this by default.

I just had Rumia bomb the danmaku.







Sorry, but that's it for me. I'm pulling back.

Mokou suicided herself again. I was hoping she could dodge a 26%, but alas, it was too much to expect.

Hmmmmmm?

Huh? Wh-what?

Nothing. For some reason I just felt like you came over to ask me a favor.

Is that how I look...?



I needed someone to weaken the trio for a Silent Selene finish, and Dai hadn't had her conversation yet. Two birds, one stone.

Your sound is... too quiet. You should go around listening to just a few more kinds of sounds, to raise your sensitivity.

That's none of your concern. I wouldn't be able to relax in a noisy library.


Watch the video!



The Prismrivers drop a Live Ticket, which raises initial Power by 10. It's pretty good!

Aww... we lost.

Is this the dreaded last minute cancellation?

It's too bad about the result, but I think we got some good material out of this.

In any case, we're in the middle of a tour, so I hope you'll stop by one of our other shows.

Tickets and play guides are selling fast!

Ciao~!

Exit Prismrivers.

Finally. What was that supposed to be?

They were pretty good though. I'd like to hear them again sometime.

I'm sure the mistresses would be please if we invited them to the manor.

No, no, that's the sort of thing you're supposed go out to see. Even if you're a vampire, you should leave the house every once in a while.

Then we should all go see them together next time! Uh, where do they sell the tickets?

There's a promoter's office. It's popular though, so you might have to wait in line all day.

How does Meiling know that?

I'm up early, so leave it to me! A farmer's day starts early after all.

Okay, let's redirect that enthusiasm towards ending our battle here. We didn't get a chance to ask them about the details, but we know something is going on in the Netherworld.

Okay, then let's take down this barrier.

Easier said than done. Now that I've had a closer look, it's quite sophisticated.

I've got no clue where to start. Does the door open somehow?

Hmm, I don't know... I've been here before, and at the time I just went right on through.

This sounds like a pain, let's just break it.

What are you saying, you can't just-



Invisible Reimu walks up to the door. The screen flashes, and:



Presto.

W-w-w-wait! What are you doing?!

That was a complex spell. How did you do that so easily?

Everything's got its own boundaries, right? A barrier is no exception. So all I had to do was twist it up a bit and flip it inside out and there we go.

Why didn't she have that power in Labyrinth of Touhou?

Um, so what does that mean exactly?

You don't have to understand it. Reimu sucks at explaining stuff.

Anyway, I'm glad we solved that. Let's hurry to the-





Crows spawn in behind the party,



and Ran and Chen spawn in front.

! Master, that's-

Huh, who're you?

Miss Ran, are they the ones we're looking for?

Indeed, the report said it was the black and white magician and her crew.

I have something to ask you people. Let's talk.





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On Lunatic, Reimu smashed half the enemy force while everyone I intend to use for the final chapter hunkered up and used the other half to level up some. The Prismriver fight went basically the same as Normal. The Three Fairies/Lily stayed in the back and did nothing.

Also there's an extra conversation if you use the Three Fairies' finisher. I actually couldn't since they combined right next to the Prismrivers, but here it is.


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Hello everyone. It's time for Daiyousei's Healing Hour. Let's start immediately; this week's guest is Cirno.

If anyone has any problems, I can handle them!

This time we're hearing from someone in the SDM. Their radio name is "Trill".
_{Fun Fact: Sanbondo was originally planning on naming Dai "Trill".}

"I'm a clumsy person. Recently, when I saw a certain sign, I was very surprised. Dai, if you saw a sign that said 'No Shoes, No Shirt, So Service', what would you think it meant?"

What is this, a riddle?

It seems like it. Um, I think it actually meant "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service"? But if you read it that way...
_{The original pun was Koa "Trill" misreading hakimono (shoes) as just kimono (clothes). So when they saw a sign seeing to take off their shoes...}

Hmmmmmmmm. Well, I don't really get it either way, so I guess I'd just play it safe and try both?

C-Cirno?!