seki108

FMW stage 66 complete.  VERY short talk this time.

 I hesitate to call this a 'cool down' stage exactly, since we were on a strict timer, but there wasn't a boss to face.  Really, it was another "annoy player with buttloads of movement restricting danmaku fields and attach a time limit to the skill point" type stage.   Very good for leveling up lagging characters though.

Really, the highlight of the stage of Patchi's new finisher

Also, the Palanquin Ship learns a new finisher at stage end, completing it's similar moveset to the the Mother Vangard from Crossbone Gundam

Sadly(?), we didn't get to fight Evil Eye Sigma, but damn it's event sprite was huge

Next stage, it's time to GET SAINT BACK

I find this pic extremely hilarious, far more than I should

Well, against all odds, I fond one more.  It's only about half of this short video, but the laugh is still there

This just came out, so not sure if you've seen it yet.   Also not sure how much would be minor spoilers to you, so proceed with some caution.  Currently trying to decide where this ranks with some of the other 'So This is Basically' episodes.

I guess I'll write something about FMW stage 65 now.

A good round of people learning new moves right before the stage starts.  Apparently this is where the Fairies of Light learned their new finisher in the early versions but now it's a few stages earlier.  Just listing/showing them here (borrowed from translation LP):

Also, Mima came back after about 20 stages, with a very appropriate earned PP number of 666 (for an evil vengeful spirit) and a new attack that lays on a bit of edge (about 2:50 in video above).

The main reason I had to restart this stage so many times is because of the group of Makai bugs that charge you first turn.  Unless you head them off with a unit or two, they will reach your main force the second enemy phase and wreak havoc.  The main reason these are a hassle is that their ability nullifies all attacks below 4000 damage.......and it takes a while to reach enough morale to dish out more damage.  Even putting your barrier piercing item on a unit only makes them harder to kill (unless you are on normal where you might reasonably one-shot them---only 3000 HP).   More thorough anaylsis of these bastards, though I hit the high points:

And a picture of them, since I never put one up

After that I still had to face the main boss, which apparently counts as one of the hardest in FMW....and I agree it's well deserved.  Introducing Touhou's original blade-wielding combat maid, Yumeko: 

While Alpha-Sakuya may not have current-Sakuya's time stop ability (translated here as a chance to auto dodge any attack), she does have stacked armor, an huge accuracy buff item, Level 2 of all three of the stat boosting skills, two moves every enemy phase, and a busted Personal skill that lets her Support Attack herself.  That last one is what gives her the 'almost hardest boss' distinction.  Power creep hit Sakuya VERY hard by the third game

-----Most of the game allows your more fragile units to be Support defended by a bulkier unit, but Support Attacks can't be defended this way.......and she has enough power/accuracy to oneshot almost any squishy unit along with a habit to target the same unit with both her turns (which equals 4 attacks per enemy phase). 

It's funny that Sakuya essentially has this ability as a personal skill (though it requires her to have a much higher skill stat than the target), but isn't survivable enough to use it over the personal skill that increases her dodge percentage.  They really wanted to show who was the better maid here even though it seems Yumeko doesn't keep that Personal skill as a player unit sadly.

Would really recommend watching the animations for Yumeko's attacks, since they are top notch, along with the 'Doll of Misery' remix.  UNLIMLED MAID WORKS!! 

while Sakuya's are basically still the same as they were in the first game from 8 years ago

@Wolfox, since I talked about Sakuya above (I at least want one person to glance through a portion of this).  As a bonus, here is a Hellish(?) version of the bulky fairies that are going to be showing up for the next few missions.  Still adorable even when the acquire an edge

FINALLY.   Stage 65 complete.  will write something more about it later.   Alpha/Beta-Sakuya does not mess around; had to completely ignore one her spell cards to have a chance at the skill point............ also, another reminder of 'FUCK Makai armored bugs'

 For now, here is the remix of 'Alice in Wonderland' from Touhou 5 that I've gotten to listen to throughout this ordeal.  Onward deeper into Makai next stage