Part 8: Chapter 18M: Laying a Hand on the Scarlet Devil Mansion (2)

Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

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Music: What's the Strategy?

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I get a cup of Sakuya's Tea for beating 18M. It restores 30 SP, which is really nice.

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Even though FMW1 said that clearing Sakuya's story wouldn't carry over any bonuses, if you have clear data from Sakuya's route the SDM crew and Komachi will start with one upgrade in everything.



Meiling and Sakuya both see some Weapons upgrades,



and Elly grabs the rest in a desperate attempt to shore up her defenses.



She even throws on two Oni's Nails. Meiling takes the other two, Sakuya starts with a N-Shooter, so I just throw on a Rat's Tail, and Komachi gets Sakuya's Tea, because it's good to be able to guarantee she'll have enough SP to cast Strike on a Road of Avici buffed attack.



Skill-wise, Elly actually wants to nab Support Attack. Hell, everyone does, it's a great skill.



Kurumi already has Support Attack and Combo Attack though so she's as good as she'll ever get. May as well start stacking Range Up.



Finally, Sakuya changes her PS to Luna Dial, which increases the activation rate of Private Square by 10%. Said skill has been nerfed since FMW1 (50% chance to 25%), but being able to instantly dodge anything is still great and hilariously save scummable.


Sakuya Izayoi
Personality: Strong-willed (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Character Skill: Elegant (Reduces enemy crit rate to 0%), Parry, Private Square (25% chance to evade an enemy attack, does not prevent graze damage)
Personal Skills: Luna Dial (Increase Private Square's activation rate), Knife Collect (Attacks cost MP instead of ammo), Chief Maid (Chance of countering an opponent's attack. Stacks with Pattern Type.)
Spirits: Devote, Focus, Assail (use any non-MAP attack after moving, 22), Strike (30)

Now a fully-fledged player character, Sakuya's pretty interesting. Instead of outright dodging attacks like Reimu, she's built to nullify them entirely; every time she gets attacked, the enemy has to first roll against Parry, then Pattern Type (if you kept it on her), then Private Square, and then Sakuya's actual dodge rate. And chances are they'll have to get past Meiling too. I guess you could consider her a rogue, which works on another level because Sakuya's principal problem is her low damage. Most of her attacks work off her Ranged stat, and for whatever odd reason she's weaker than both Reimu and Marisa in that stat. Throw in a lack of damage buffs, and you end up with someone who can never seem to get a good hit in. Speaking of that, Strike getting replaced with Devote hurts her in the first half, but at least she gets Focus.
In the early editions of the game, Sakuya's finisher was glitched. Either the black and white effect didn't work, or the enemy sprite would disappear, or Sakuya herself disappeared. It took a couple patches for Sanbondo to fix it.

All Attacks
Boss theme: Distortion Dial (Luna Dial, Variable Formation)
Eternal Meek theme: Crumbling Silver Knife (The Young Descendant of Tepes)
Battle theme: The Elegant Flower That Blooms at Night (Flowering Night)


Meiling Hong
Personality: Strong-willed (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Personal Skills: Last Stand (Defense increases as HP decreases, stacks with Berserk), Qigong (Learn Shield Defense), Snooze (Learn HP Regen S), Quake Kick (Land terrain rating boosted to S), Gatekeeper (reduce damage taken while Support Defending)
Spirits: Guts, Guard, Strike, Spirit (22)

FMW2 throws a lot of tanks your way, but Meiling is the overall best. Comparing her to who we have now, she's not as support oriented as Keine or as speedy as Elly, but she takes and gives hits like a champ. She has great spirits, amazing Personal Skills, joins early, and is for all intents and purposes immortal. Her only real flaw is her low Move, but that's easy to fix. She even retains her friendship with Sakuya, though at only a 5% boost it's not much.
The japanese name of her Last Stand skill is a reference to a chinese proverb about a couple guys fighting to the death in a river. I don't quite remember. Also Qigong should technically be Hard Qigong or something like that? Man, I was kind of lazy with her PS translations.

All Attacks
Battle theme: Chinese Girl, Stand Guard! (Shanghai Teahouse, None Can Oppose Me)


Komachi Onozuka
Personality: Easy-going (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Evade: +2, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Character Skill: Parry
Personal Skills: Way of Avici (Attacks with ranges >= 3 have infinite range, limited uses), Slacker (Learn HP Regen M, -20 initial Power), Ferriage Toll (+10% Points from battle)
Spirits: Strike, Fury, Trust, Guard (23)

If I'm going to be honest, Komachi kind of blows. Her accuracy/evasion is mediocre, she's got a load of HP but not much defense, and her only real claim to fame is Way of Avici. But Way of Avici is really fun to use so I look past all that. And hey, her finisher has a S rank underwater! This is useful approximately once but it's something.
Slacker is literally "Fell Off the Road of Life" IIRC.

All Attacks
Battle theme: Price of Life (Higan Retour, Beat and Beat)
Battle theme arrange: Price of Life (Ibiza Style)

Elly and Kurumi are PC-98 characters so itomugi-kun doesn't care about them. No banners.

Elly
Personality: Strong-willed (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Character Skill: Parry
Personal Skills: Perdition (Critical rate increases as Elly gets closer to the target), Floor Tiles (Attacked enemy can not move for a turn, limited uses), Gatekeeper
Spirits: Vigor (Restore 30% of own health), Strike, Accel, Grit (21)

Elly sucks until she gets Grit. But once she learns it her survivability goes way up, as does her use; having a quasi-tank with Accel is surprisingly handy. Her finisher's not too shabby either. Too bad getting her to 21 requires practically dragging her through the events of MoF.
If you ask me who I'd rather baby through MoF between Cirno and Elly, I'd probably say Elly. Most of the time I just give up on both of them though.

All Attacks
Battle theme 1: Creeping Dreams (Perdition Crisis)
Battle theme 2: The Girl Guarding the Door of Dreams (Perdition Crisis, White Reflection)
Battle theme 1 arrange: Creeping Dreams (cobu style)

Kurumi
Personality: Easy-going (Hit: +1, Kill: +4, Get Hit: +1, Evade: +2, Ally Killed: +1, Graze: +1)
Personal Skills: Break the Sabbath (Attacked enemy can not Defend or Evade for a turn, limited uses), Night Owl (+20% Hit/Evade while in Night terrain), Vampire (Absorb some of damage dealt as HP)
Spirits: Cheer, Accel, Alert, Luck (23), Strike (31)

Walnut Kurumi is the worst character in the game. She's frail, inaccurate, not particularly strong, and basically only useful as a Support Attacker. Which she starts fully equipped for, so for the longest time I was willing to overlook all of that. And hey, Break the Sabbath is really useful on Hard/Lunatic! Not. The number of times preventing bosses from evading/defending from a turn is useful is practically zero, especially since Kurumi has to actually hit with her attack. Maybe she'll be better in FMW3 thanks to Night Owl, but I'm not holding my breath.
The translation for FMW1 really screwed up Kurumi's attack names for some reason.

All Attacks
Battle theme: Rise Above the Lake, Scarlet Phoneme

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The game has been paused. Please take a break.

...I had no idea there was a human living deep in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. This person seems to have distanced themselves from society, so Reimu's group is coldly demanded to leave.

But then the tengu make their presence known. What will happen next?

Now then, please have fun playing Chapter 18 of Fantasy Maiden Wars P: "Don't Lay a Hand on That Human"!

(Translation Rough Draft)