Touhou Labyrinth of Touhou 2 - Expansion Disk Translation Now Available, Too

[Crooked Bee]

Codex review of LoT 1 and 2 by Suicidal: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10759

(Incomplete) Expansion Disk Translation Now Available, Too:

The translation for the expansion disk has been out for a while, by the way: https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,15439.msg1373650.html#msg1373650

I believe it's still incomplete, but it's something There are also rumors of a Steam release, I heard?

Buying the game (JPN) as digital download:
The best way to get the game is to buy the original Japanese version and then apply the English translation patch. You can buy Labyrinth of Touhou 2 (~$16) and 1 (~$9) as digital download by following Niektory's instructions:

Buying Labyrinth of Touhou 2 (and 1) or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Moonrunes

Spoiler

Downloadable version of LoT2 can be bought from Melonbooks or DLsite for ￥1,944 (around 16 USD).

http://www.melonbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=IT0000165852
http://www.dlsite.com/home/work/=/product_id/RJ118525.html

We'll go with Melonbooks.

You might want to grab Labyrinth of Touhou 1 as well (￥1,080, around 9 USD):
http://www.melonbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=IT0000131417
http://www.dlsite.com/home/work/=/product_id/RJ064430.html

You should get a confirmation e-mail. Follow the link in the e-mail. Afterwards fill in your account details:

English to Katakana Converter can help you with the phonetic name. Not that it matters.

Confirm the next two pages by pressing the green buttons. You should now be logged in on the main page.

Click the yellow button on the next page to confirm the payment.

You can download the game(s) on the following page. Later you can access your downloads on http://www.melonbooks.com/index.php?main_page=account_history

I hope it's useful.

Patch and translation download links
- JPN patch v1.1: http://www.mediafire.com/download/olvo18t6ghrxe5o/THL2_ver1100Patch.zip (mirror)
- The latest English patch (v1.203, apply on top of JPN v.1.1): https://www.mediafire.com/?ov09hclzlu69bn5 (mirror)

===========

Sequel to one of the best dungeon crawlers of all time, Labyrinth of Touhou 2 finally got a full English translation a few days ago.

doesn't even begin to describe how happy I am about this. And of course, it releases exactly when I don't have much time to play it. Damn it.

The translation's fully done, but is still in beta, meaning there may be some typos, mistakes, and bugs/glitches. Also text going off screen.

Link to the original (Japanese-language) version with 1.1 patch:
http://touhouxproject.blogspot.ru/2013/10/labyrinth-of-touhou-2-touhou-no-meikyuu.html

Link to the translation thread with the English patch in the OP:
https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,15439.0.html

Codex thread about LoT 1:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-of-touhou-hardcore-pc-dungeon-crawler.60646/

Screenshots of some starting scenes:

Spoiler

EDIT: Turns out you can turn off Bloom! Check out Niektory's post.

 

[Gragt]

Ah, I still need to play LoT1.

 

[SuicideBunny]

dungeon crawling just isn't the same if it's not a blobber...

 

[Crooked Bee]

dungeon crawling just isn't the same if it's not a blobber...

Did you play LoT1? It is a blobber. Combat is first person, and your party does move as a "blob" too. The only non-blobber thing about it is that the dungeon is presented in the abstract isometric view.

Still, LoT1 had the best first person blobber combat ever, so I can live with iso dungeon crawling as a trade-off, especially since it basically works the same as in a grid-based first person crawler.

 

[SuicideBunny]

It is a blobber.

pfft, klugscheisser.

it just isn't the same for me. a significant part of my fun with dungeon crawlers comes from mindmapping and orienting. when it's all just from the top and doesn't rotate it just feels like a picture hung askew and ticks me off.
i'm gonna give it a try, but unless it has a fuckton of exploration content to compensate for that missing stimulus, i don't see me having much fun with it.

 

[spekkio]

I see that the bloom disease attacked the indie jap devs too...

 

[Humanity has risen!]

It is a blobber.

pfft, klugscheisser.

it just isn't the same for me. a significant part of my fun with dungeon crawlers comes from mindmapping and orienting. when it's all just from the top and doesn't rotate it just feels like a picture hung askew and ticks me off.
i'm gonna give it a try, but unless it has a fuckton of exploration content to compensate for that missing stimulus, i don't see me having much fun with it.

Exactly, it sucks.

 

[felipepepe]

I like games like this, but they remind me how I'm a filthy casual and will lose my sanity just to finish the first floor...

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"In Hard Mode [...] your party's average level cannot be higher than that of a boss you are fighting."

So the game makes you...scale to its level?

 

[Crooked Bee]

The first game had this "feature" which in theory made it easier for some people, that if you grinded like crazy and got "overleveled", the game's tougher encounters would become too trivial. I shudder to imagine how much time you had to spend grinding to be overleveled, though, because usually I was under-leveled in my playthrough. So, I think the dev introduced Hard Mode to counter that kind of behavior. No idea how it works exactly, but still, I'm definitely not going to play it on Hard my first time through - if it's the same as the first game, then it should be hardcore enough as it is.

Also, this game is much more about combat than exploration - it has hands down the best combat in any blobber I've played - but I enjoyed the exploration, too. The dungeon gets positively labyrinthine on the later floors, much more labyrinthine than any other "Wizardry-like" I've played (an upside of the isometric presentation, I believe). Hopefully it's the same in LoT2.

 

[Monstrous Bat]

Tried the first game, quit on floor 10. The bosses are extremely well designed and fun to fight, too bad that they only made up of 10% of the game. The remaining 90% is all about fighting boring-as-fuck trash mobs. Eventually it got tiring. I had the same problem with Etrian Odyssey actually.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Dunno, I thought it was about the same as in any other Wizardry-like dungeon crawler actually, including any Wizardry game proper. Except there "trash mobs" are more like 99% of the game, acting as a resource depletion mechanic more than anything. LoT1 has that, but it also has the fantastic tougher encounters that you mentioned + a highly creative combat system on top of that.

 

[Niektory]

Heh, I considered posting about this but decided not to since it's still rough. The previous version crashed quite often, not sure about this one, but I'd still expect problems.

I'm going to play it on hard. The only thing it seems to do is prevent you from overleveling. I played for a bit and the caps seem to be set at reasonable levels. Also, there is respec, game over only sends you back to Gensokyo without losing any progress, and boss battles can be retried, so it's streamlined quite a bit. I doubt it's going to be frustrating.

Fortunately the eye-raping bloom can be turned off in the options. It looks MUCH better without it:

Spoiler

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'm loving the item descriptions. References to so many of my favourite games, usually in incredibly obscure ways. Started on hard mode. I don't think it does anything besides the level cap for bosses (and even that doesn't really matter, since you can level past there, spend the skill points, then level back down.) Actually felt kinda too easy until third floor boss. Seems to be picking up now though, and seems all around better done than the first game. Excellent sequel.

Edit: Except lack of fullscreen mode. Windowed games suck balls.

 

[Damned Registrations]

What kind of teams/characters is everyone using? I love the consumables item thing, lets you really double down on a single character kicking ass if you want, or strategically spreading them around where they'll help most. I dumped everything on Cirno so far, since she has fairly balanced stats and speed debuffs are basically always useful. I've been experimenting with some of the team synergies too, like a team revolving around terror effects, or the whole Team9 thing. Only at floor 5 though, so still missing a lot of pieces.

I seem to be ditching a lot of the characters I used in the first game actually. Also, I miss Patchy. She was OP as fuck.

 

[Crooked Bee]

No Patchouli? This is an outrage.

Anyway, I haven't had the time to play the game yet, but all of that sounds good. I'm glad the sequel is up to par.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Only had time to clear 1,5 floors so far, liking most of the improvements, but the map is really inferior this time. The one in the first game was much more legible, and showed the paths/areas you haven't explored yet fairly well.

Also, it seems I already forgot how some of the stats work. What's up with SPD? I equipped an accessory that was supposed to increase it by 12% (judging from the description), but it just won't go up at all.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There's a button to show the map, and tiles adjacent to tiles you haven't explored yet show up in a light red colour on it and the minimap. Which is mostly where I look because the actual map is a blurry particle effect mess.

The way stats work in general is a bit weird, but speed in particular is actually a really tiny amount tacked onto 100 base. The 100 base doesn't get modified by anything except in combat buffs. So it's not worth equipping items that increase speed until level ~20 or so when you have characters with ~110 speed or so and can actually get benefits out of them. Even then I don't focus on speed unless the character is just a buff machine where nothing else really matters.

Another useful tip about stats: Hit Z a few times on the status screen to see the 'base stats' for each character. These don't go up from levels, but do go up from consumable items and the skillpoint boosts. So getting defense boost skills on a character that already has massive defense won't actually make a huge difference, but getting them on a glass cannon can make them a lot more sturdy (Assuming you've also put the points in elsewhere, including equipment.)

Stats in general are a function of 3 variables: level; base stats, and multipliers. The first two are self explanatory, the third is basically everything else, and it all gets added together, not multiplied. So if you dumped all your level up bonuses into HP then went to Patchy and had her increase your hp some more, an item that says 12% hp won't actually do 12% hp any more. It's just adding to the % you already added. Lastly, combat buffs get added on last, and multiply everything else. So +50% defense from Reimu really will give 50% more DEF.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Ooh, I see. Thanks, the stat explanation is really helpful.

Also, yeah, I know about the map button but I have to strain my eyes to make out those light red tiles on both the minimap and the separate map. It's all just not sharp and/or large enough.

 

[Niektory]

The patch is actually stable. No crashes or other major issues so far (I'm on the 5th floor). I've switched to Jap locale though, it might be a factor.

I don't have any problems with the map. You know you can disable dungeon special effects (not the same option as bloom)? The window can be enlarged too.
I actually like it more thanks to the always visible events. Now I can explore quickly without fear of accidentally bumping into a boss.

My main annoyance is that the boss attack name and element icon disappear too quickly to read them, and it's quite crucial information. They flash for a second at the top of the screen while the damage is displayed on the bottom, it's impossible to read both. Must be my karma, since I usually complain about animations being too long.

Hina doesn't like me:

Spoiler

Oh crap... Not exactly going as planned.

Last resort reinforcements!

We got this, just one more hit to go.

Minoriko, why?

Should have healed Kogasa instead.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Yeah, Hina gave me a lot of trouble, since my usual team revolved around debuffs and terror. I like that the bosses are difficult enough to force me to change out of my comfortable teams and strategies though. I'd make a suggestion or two for you but you got her down to a thread anyways.

Also, trying to finish off tough enemies with Nazrin for more loot adds an extra layer of challenge.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I don't have any problems with the map. You know you can disable dungeon special effects (not the same option as bloom)? The window can be enlarged too.

I still can't quite get used to the new map/minimap. It's a bit too zoomed-out (even if you press A for a separate map screen) and not as sharp as the first game's. The dev should've kept it top-down instead of making it isometric, imho.

Just a minor complaint anyway. Too happy about being able to play what is basically LoT1+ to really give a damn.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I have my new ace. She is incredibly broken. More broken than any character in the first game by far. Getting a lot of mileage out of Aya in the boss fights too, though that didn't really require any investment. Cirno, ironically, has been ditched as my ace just when her element would have started to be really usefu for sweeping random encountersl. Ah well.

Oh, also, I chose Mokou. She seems pretty ridiculous if you dump training books on her, but I didn't because she showed up at just the wrong time. (Well, she actually would have been kinda decent if given the right item, but I also didn't want to bother splitting consumables yet so I didn't want to choose someone with no benefit from mag.) I'm guessing the other option would have been equally as strong, potentially. Either way, she's going to be a monster of a tank late game. Crazy good skills.

 

[communard]

This game feels harder than the first. Or maybe I'm just grinding less, actually that's probably the case. In any case Mokou is absolutely demolishing my ass, only managed to get to the second stage of the fight once. It didn't end well.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I've actually felt like this has been a lot easier than the first. Mokou might have been the first boss I got stuck on. Then I put together my core boss fighting squad which pretty much carried me until Hina without much trouble.