東方幻想魔録W ～ The Devil of Decline

Basically, an extremely flexible RPG about learning and exploiting its own mechanics. Every character can equip any shikigami to use any skill at variable degrees of effectiveness, leading to many viable strategies that can be used to take down any tough enemy, and basic stats affect a lot so buffs and debuffs play a big part in the game. Easily one of my favorite games of all time and also the one I've replayed the most across all its past releases, it feels amazing finally being able to play its definitive version in English after about 13 years.

This game is as hard as I remember it, good for people who enjoy punishing RPG

Well, I've been waiting for a translation for this very game for like 10 years. I played over a 100 hours on a non-bought version (since doujin games are hard to aquire outside of japan) without understanding a word. So I can say, yes; I do recommend it.

Pros: + Quite challenging (need to prepare well for bosses) + Lunatic/Yukari mode if you want to go even more overboard + Shikigami system lets you make or break the game, plus individualize your characters (it's really cool) + Recruiting monsters (good luck with some of them tho) + kinda hilarious conversations between protagonists/antagonists Cons: - story is like real bland and barely relevant - farming drops/recruiting shikigami can be frustrating due to low chances of success - new characters/shikigami starting from Lv1 is still tiring - rather simple dungeons without many puzzles (there are exceptions tho) - GoS still does many things better than DoD In short: If you want a rather challenging JRPG, roll for it. If you favor story-heavy games, DoD isn't for you. DoD also has a few design flaws mentioned above - but those are minor issues.

This artist "ink" was chosen by the very heavens themselves

昔PC版をしこたま遊びましたが、追加要素が気になって購入。 「ロマサガ風」と各メディアで紹介されていますが、ロマサガ風なのは見た目だけで、 どちらかといえば世界樹の迷宮のようなゲームバランスだと思う。 具体的には、面倒な雑魚敵/ボス相手にバフデバフ・盲目や沈黙などの状態異常で適切に対処することが求められたり、 ＭＰやスペルカード（使用回数制限ありの必殺技）リソースをうまく管理して探索したり、という感じ。 全戦闘通してパズル要素が強く、コマンド式RPGとの相性の良さを感じた。 世界樹Ｘが多分一番近いか？Ｘのシステムが好きだった人はかなり楽しく遊べるはず。 [余談：前作と比較して] 前作（蒼神縁起）は制作側の想定解を完全に導き出さないと勝てないくらいの難易度だったが、 今作は編成の自由度が高いことから、ボス突破までのアプローチが複数あり、その点難易度はマイルドになっているかなという印象を受けた。 PC版よりはるかに遊びやすく、それでいて完成度高くまとまっている良作だと思う。おすすめ。

太好玩了， 我们需要中文。我可以帮忙本地化（

It has the three fairies of light so instant 10/10

baller RPG from the golden age of touhou

I am a big fan of Genius of Sappheiros, Strawberry Bose's previous game (I speedran it quite a bit actually :3 ), and I cannot express how happy I was that Devil of Decline finally got an official english translation patch! Just finished 100% of my first playthrough, and it sure was a ride. While I didn't find the same things I expected from GoS, it was still incredibly fun to play through, and it probably won't be my last playthrough too, as I want to enjoy other MCs, parties or different play styles. Following up on the masterpiece that was Genius of Sappheiros, Devil of Decline decided to reuse a lot of the features of the predecessor, while dropping a few. Namely, formations are back, Enemy weaknesses and resistances, slay damage multipliers, Divine Shield (this time actually properly explained!!) Spell cards limitations, buffs and debuffs are all very much the same as before. No more commanders, no more Elemental buff on physical attacks, and with the Shinigami system, Physical is not the way to go anymore! Lives are gone too, as well as personal weapon types, and most importantly, the Power system completly disappeared, making the game a lot more simpler. And overall, the big thing with this entry is how much easier it got compared to GoS. A lot of the boss fights in Sappheiros were about figuring out a specific strategy you kind of had to go for in order to beat the boss, with different party members, formations, skill selections, equipment and power distribution. In this game however, pretty much everything is determined by your Shinigami selection, and bosses don't really have specific gimmicks that requires you to figure out a way to deal with them, as the game gives you pretty easily some over the top damage dealing abilities. Still, the difficulty is more than enough to be enjoyable, just don't expect to constantly game over or retry like you did in GoS; it will happen from time to time, but not 20 times throughout a stage (looking at you stage 20!). Talking about stages, they are also completly gone in this game, and it feels really nice, as you just seamlessly go from one area to another, whether it's Makai wasteland or places we all know from Touhou. It also is a complete open world too, allowing to clear the third big dungeon first. The music is once again a jam everywhere we go, and there is A LOT MORE battle themes in this, all absolutly fantastic. Big enfluence from PC98 on the soundtrack too. The only bad one I can think of is Korindou (which is a shame considering how often I checked out that place!) I talked about it earlier, but the shinigami system is the core part of the game. Every character gets to equip up to 3 shinigamis, who each gives stats, passive skills and active abilities. It is basically the replacement for the Power system, and it does work wonder. While we lose a lot of customization ability on our party, having presets already ready makes things a lot more simpler, and while the abilities should progress in power as you go through the game... it doesn't quite do that, and gives you some INCREDIBLY broken stuff very fast. Will you be able to spot them as well as I did? Back on the topic, the more you progress the more options there is, and it gets really fun trying to mess around and choose your party, and get more and more options for it. Sure, everything joins at level 1, but it never takes long for anything to get back to the levels of everything else. My only real big gripe is that I feel the overworld character design is a downgrade compared to GoS. The sprites was what appealed me to play Genius back in the days, and they all feel really sad now. The artwork of every character does make up a bit for it, and upon seeing a bit of GoS again, the enemy spritework is a lot better in this, as a lot of enemy sprites are coming back, and I have to say, good job to Strawberry Bose, as I doubt a lot of people would notice it. All in all, DoD is a fantastic game, that I would recommend to anyone wanting to enjoy some Touhou RPG with their favorite Touhous (they are basically all here up to Great Fairy War, whether as Humans or Shinigamis). It is not so hard to repel non RPG experts too, and can be cleared very fast for the main game. The music is fantastic, the combat system is really cool, the characters are lovable, and the game is brimming with content. Sure, it is not as good as Genius of Sappheiros on a few aspects, but it's different enough that it is still very much enjoyable. Honestly can't wait to see a translated remaster of Nightmare of Rebellion now!