Crooked Bee
(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
Codex review of LoT 1 and 2 by Suicidal: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10759
======
Note:
There are basically two versions of the game that you might want to play. If you don't care for the Rebirth project (see below), you probably want to play v3.01, which includes the additional 10 dungeon floors known as "Special Disk" (an expansion for the most dedicated of players, basically). If you want to play Rebirth, or simply don't care for the additional (all too grindy) floors, v2.04 is what you need.
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 -- includes the Special Disk) as digital download by following Niektory's instructions:
Download links
- Fonts you might need for the game to run properly: download
- ENG patch for JPN v3.01 (i.e. for the JPN version which includes the Special Disk -- which you can buy by following Niektory's instructions above): download
- JPN v2.00 (original + Plus Disk, without Special Disk): http://www.mediafire.com/download/shnqcpywstsx9l3/LoT_JPN_v2.0.zip (mirror)
- JPN patch from v2.00 to v2.04: http://www.mediafire.com/download/mzdgl54mxmi/thLabyrinth_ver2.04.zip (mirror)
- JPN v2.04 pre-patched (original + Plus Disk): http://doujinstyle.com/?p=2060 (disregard it saying that it includes the Special Disk, it does not)
- ENG patch for JPN v2.04 (use on top of JPN v2.04, duh): download
- JPN patch to v3.0: download
- JPN patch to v3.1: download
(Not sure if you'll ever need the last two patches, but I have included them just in case.)
Other Labyrinth of Touhou 1 & 2 threads:
- Thread for "Labyrinth of Touhou - Rebirth," a fan-made mod for LoT1 based on v2.04: www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/labyrinth-of-touhou-rebirth-fan-mod-for-lot.96116/
- Thread for Labyrinth of Touhou 2: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ouhou-2-full-beta-translation-released.93645/
====
Looking for a good new dungeon crawler to play? Look no further!
Labyrinth of Touhou is a hardcore -- as in, brutal -- doujin (i.e., indie) japanese turn-based RPG/dungeon crawler for PC. It's quite challenging -- but not grind-ey if you play it in a smart way -- definitely more challenging than Etrian Odyssey, which is what this game is usually (not entirely correctly) compared to, and loads of fun. It's also extremely abstract, being all about numbers and party customization, the only downside being the typical wapanese anime art style.
If you can get past that, however, the game has a lot to offer. You navigate a multi-level dungeon, represented as simply a network of corridors with special symbols for "events", and fight in random and scripted encounters, during which the game switches to first person, meaning it's basically a blobber. It is, however, a very good blobber, with some fairly complex dungeons and a lot of skills, equipment items, and attributes to explore.
There are 40 player characters in toto, but you're supposed to build a team of 12 characters chosen from among those, with 4 of them active and 8 in reserve. Apart from the usual increase in a character's stats on a level-up, you also can collect and spend Skill points on fine-tuning a character with amazing results, a process in which a lot depends on this particular character's natural strengths and weaknesses. For each character, you must -- as in, bye-bye if you don't -- find out a role he or she will best fulfill in the party, depending on the overall composition of your party as well as your play style. There's no saving and no resurrection inside the dungeon, there're no healing items, only abilities requiring a lot of Spell points -- and healing spells are extremely rare so that you can't rely on them too thoughtlessly -- and there are many parameters you totally must take into account, such as a character's TP (basically the amount of time the character can spend inside a dungeon before going back to the base), a character's elemental affinities and resistances (there are six elements, which can be of vital importance in a battle), status effects (some of which are *very* nasty) and affliction resistances, as well as the usual things like Speed (the battle system is action gauge-based, so that if your characters' speed is not high enough or you can't find a way to reduce the enemy's speed, the party may get spammed to death by certain bosses), physical and magic defense, etc. The characters are very frail, and a couple of hits may more often than not kill them, especially in tougher encounters. You can actually switch characters in-battle, but that won't help you if you approach a tough encounter carelessly, and you're probably going to lose some progress, too. Positioning matters, as exposing a character with low defense to an enemy's attacks means certain one-hit death, and a character's death may often spell death for the entire party. So, in any case, prepare to die. A lot.
Overall, I've become really addicted to this game in the last few days, and you should, too. Despite being a blobber, it has much more strategy in it than most RPGs these days, or any days actually. Also, surprisingly enough, it has been pretty well-balanced so far, so that if you lose, you tend to feel like that's your own fault, not the game's.
And that ends my rant. Anyone played this game? If you have, feel free to share your impressions.
P.S. And yes, you can actually google this game, and there's an English translation. In fact, the latest English patch can be found by googling Touhou Labyrinth Special Disc 3.01 English patched, or something along those lines. Have fun.
P.P.S. I hope Black Cat will have something to add if she's still reading these boards, as she's much more knowledgeable about this game than I am. She even promised to do an LP once, if I'm not mistaken.
======
Note:
There are basically two versions of the game that you might want to play. If you don't care for the Rebirth project (see below), you probably want to play v3.01, which includes the additional 10 dungeon floors known as "Special Disk" (an expansion for the most dedicated of players, basically). If you want to play Rebirth, or simply don't care for the additional (all too grindy) floors, v2.04 is what you need.
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 -- includes the Special Disk) 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
I hope it's useful.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
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
Download links
- Fonts you might need for the game to run properly: download
- ENG patch for JPN v3.01 (i.e. for the JPN version which includes the Special Disk -- which you can buy by following Niektory's instructions above): download
- JPN v2.00 (original + Plus Disk, without Special Disk): http://www.mediafire.com/download/shnqcpywstsx9l3/LoT_JPN_v2.0.zip (mirror)
- JPN patch from v2.00 to v2.04: http://www.mediafire.com/download/mzdgl54mxmi/thLabyrinth_ver2.04.zip (mirror)
- JPN v2.04 pre-patched (original + Plus Disk): http://doujinstyle.com/?p=2060 (disregard it saying that it includes the Special Disk, it does not)
- ENG patch for JPN v2.04 (use on top of JPN v2.04, duh): download
- JPN patch to v3.0: download
- JPN patch to v3.1: download
(Not sure if you'll ever need the last two patches, but I have included them just in case.)
Other Labyrinth of Touhou 1 & 2 threads:
- Thread for "Labyrinth of Touhou - Rebirth," a fan-made mod for LoT1 based on v2.04: www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/labyrinth-of-touhou-rebirth-fan-mod-for-lot.96116/
- Thread for Labyrinth of Touhou 2: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ouhou-2-full-beta-translation-released.93645/
====
Looking for a good new dungeon crawler to play? Look no further!
Labyrinth of Touhou is a hardcore -- as in, brutal -- doujin (i.e., indie) japanese turn-based RPG/dungeon crawler for PC. It's quite challenging -- but not grind-ey if you play it in a smart way -- definitely more challenging than Etrian Odyssey, which is what this game is usually (not entirely correctly) compared to, and loads of fun. It's also extremely abstract, being all about numbers and party customization, the only downside being the typical wapanese anime art style.
If you can get past that, however, the game has a lot to offer. You navigate a multi-level dungeon, represented as simply a network of corridors with special symbols for "events", and fight in random and scripted encounters, during which the game switches to first person, meaning it's basically a blobber. It is, however, a very good blobber, with some fairly complex dungeons and a lot of skills, equipment items, and attributes to explore.
There are 40 player characters in toto, but you're supposed to build a team of 12 characters chosen from among those, with 4 of them active and 8 in reserve. Apart from the usual increase in a character's stats on a level-up, you also can collect and spend Skill points on fine-tuning a character with amazing results, a process in which a lot depends on this particular character's natural strengths and weaknesses. For each character, you must -- as in, bye-bye if you don't -- find out a role he or she will best fulfill in the party, depending on the overall composition of your party as well as your play style. There's no saving and no resurrection inside the dungeon, there're no healing items, only abilities requiring a lot of Spell points -- and healing spells are extremely rare so that you can't rely on them too thoughtlessly -- and there are many parameters you totally must take into account, such as a character's TP (basically the amount of time the character can spend inside a dungeon before going back to the base), a character's elemental affinities and resistances (there are six elements, which can be of vital importance in a battle), status effects (some of which are *very* nasty) and affliction resistances, as well as the usual things like Speed (the battle system is action gauge-based, so that if your characters' speed is not high enough or you can't find a way to reduce the enemy's speed, the party may get spammed to death by certain bosses), physical and magic defense, etc. The characters are very frail, and a couple of hits may more often than not kill them, especially in tougher encounters. You can actually switch characters in-battle, but that won't help you if you approach a tough encounter carelessly, and you're probably going to lose some progress, too. Positioning matters, as exposing a character with low defense to an enemy's attacks means certain one-hit death, and a character's death may often spell death for the entire party. So, in any case, prepare to die. A lot.
Overall, I've become really addicted to this game in the last few days, and you should, too. Despite being a blobber, it has much more strategy in it than most RPGs these days, or any days actually. Also, surprisingly enough, it has been pretty well-balanced so far, so that if you lose, you tend to feel like that's your own fault, not the game's.
And that ends my rant. Anyone played this game? If you have, feel free to share your impressions.
P.S. And yes, you can actually google this game, and there's an English translation. In fact, the latest English patch can be found by googling Touhou Labyrinth Special Disc 3.01 English patched, or something along those lines. Have fun.
P.P.S. I hope Black Cat will have something to add if she's still reading these boards, as she's much more knowledgeable about this game than I am. She even promised to do an LP once, if I'm not mistaken.
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