I just like how each of the characters act here Reimu: Stop lying to me you're up to no good Marisa: Sounds like a trick, not that'll stop me Sanae: Ooooo what kind of toxic gases are we talking about here Sakuya: *What's Oxygen*
And Misumaru perfectly levels with each of them: for Sakuya, oxygen is a "curse placed on animals and humans, they cannot survive without it", but for Sanae she straight up admits: yep, toxic gases, death by asphyxiation. It makes me think that she's either the deity of knowledge, or has ties to the Outside World like Mamizou.
@@anueutsuho7425 I get that this is probably just ZUN not thinking too hard about old lines but it's really funny to imagine that Sakuya knows the bottom of the PT but not the top.
I think my favorite interaction in this game is the pre-fight dialogue for Sakuya's route in this stage. First, when Misumaru says the words "anoxic zone," Sakuya doesn't remember what the word "oxygen" means, which makes sense and is already pretty funny on its own. But what makes it even funnier is how Misumaru then gives this dramatic speech about how oxygen is a curse placed on animals, and anoxic zones are a sanctuary from them.
This looks... so simple after the hell we Lunatic players went through (Jimbo, and Misumaru's gigantic balls) I'm surprised you didn't delve deeper into Misumaru's lore, but I guess you're leaving it for the Extra Stage? Anyways, if you didn't know, the reason she uses so many of Reimu's yin-yang orbs is because Misumaru's the one who made them, as explained in Reimu's scenario and secret ending
Misumaru is either a very important character to Gensokyo history lore or just a random god that happens to create the Hakurei yin-yang orbs. Also, all hail Jimbo as always.
"I starting to wonder if you've got a loadout that's nothing but Reimu cards" Funny you say that, because she mentions in Reimu's ending that she MADE the Yin-Yang Orbs
Jimbo can be routed by going to the middle-right, going down, all the way to the left then working to middle-right for each wave. I do hate the spirits right after tho. I am quite surprised that no incidents happened at grandma Misumaru given the hitbox on her balls. And Izanagi Objects have already been touched on during one of the Sealing Club's CDs (Neo-traditionalism of Japan, iirc). Also, her lore implications are big. She knows Reimu inherited the yin-yang orbs (she CRAFTED them and takes pride in her work's magnificence post-battle) and her magatama also allow her to identify the other PCs. Not to mention the orbs are the Hakurei God's go-shintai, which means she knows who the Hakurei God is.
Lately (and by lately I mean roughly around ULiL's release onward) I feel like ZUN is stuffing in all kinds of juicy lore hooks in preparation for a grand series climax/finale. Things like this, the stuff with Okina Matara, all the stuff with the Lunarians, it all feels super foreshadowing and ominous.
I love how just all of The Fandom agrees that The Ying Yang Mid-Boss Is called Jimbo, Not complaining but Where did they get The idea of naming It Jimbo ?
Given the Izanagi objects are a concept brought from the Sealing Club stories, I highly expect them to become more important in later games. I'd also say that, out of all the characters introduced in 18, Misumaru has the highest chance of coming back, considering her connection to both dragon gems and Reimu's Yin-Yang Orb.
...damnit, you didn't explicitly say something like "Misumaru's balls". For shame. At least I got a good quote to make up for it though... So uhh, stage 4! One of the hardest stages in all of Touhou history on Lunatic! The yellow rice spam before the midboss becomes absolutely bonkers on anything higher than Normal. The midboss, also baptized as Jimbo by the community (and by that I mean players and non-players alike!), gains pink rings on Hard and Lunatic, with them being denser on the latter. There's a pseudo-safespot for said rings at the very bottom right corner when it's low on the screen and the mentos bullets are being misdirected. Widely considered the second hardest pattern in the game on Lunatic. We were expecting this game to be hard from the demo, but my god... ...and Misumaru is even worse! Her first spell becomes the infamous and deadly Yin-Yang Divine Orbs on Lunatic, adding giant yin-yang balls. (On that note, at the description, I think the giant yin-yangs are just programmed to not be able to be cancelled. Even with bombs.) With every ball being very fast and going off randomly, this becomes the widely-considered hardest pattern in the game on Lunatic. Her second spell becomes... easier on higher difficulties, I'd say? On those, one giant yin-yang ball is aimed at you, so you weave around it, and stay above the cyan balls. After a while, all the clumped-up balls will reveal a path for you to go through. However Misumaru's movement can screw you over, run to the side if possible. Yin-Yang Suffocation probably has the least differences. (Although goddamn, why does it have a trillion HP???) Also the yellow and green mentos bullets on the 1st and 2nd nonspells, respectively, are only fired if you get close enough to Misumaru. Even though it can be her getting close to you instead by moving down. Quality patterns. Also, her giant yin-yangs have an absurdly huge hitbox, they're basically the entire sprite, save for the outline, pretty much. AWWW I WAS HOPING YOU'D PICK THE MOON CARD ...also nice instant hit on Megumu's opener in the stage 5 preview. From the looks of things you really weren't handling that nonspell the best way.
Yeah, he's doing the opener at the center, which is probably the thing you mostly do on your first runs. Even when i 1cc'ed the game as Marisa, i always misdirect it and try to damage her as much as possible.
Huh, on normal jimbo doesn't shoot out constant rings on top of aimed shots And misumaru's orbs are smaller, though i dont think there are that many less.
Might be worth mentioning the lunatic version of Misumaru's first spell is one of, if not thee, hardest spellcards this game - It's simple but there are just soo many fast balls, so I wouldn't feel bad bombing/missing it on a lunatic run lol
This is the stage that ends all of my runs. The stage is probably the hardest in the game overal imo, and I absolutely suck at the type of dodging required for Misumaru's spells. The type where three different shot types are bouncing everywhere and overlapping and boomeranging were never my strong suits, haha. I'll do it one of these days.
The fact that a random 4th stage boss you meet is much more important to the lore than most of the final and extra bosses is something I should've expected from ZUN yet I'm still surprised.
Everyone commenting on how hard this level is in Lunatic, while I still haven't managed to NMNB it on Normal... Like holy heck, I'm already bad at criss-crossing patterns and densely rapid-packed screens as they come, then you get both a stage and a boss that are both, and I die a lot TwT. Only reason I never bothered with 1CCing Normal, and stuck on with Easy just like the noob that I am xD The one thing I can never understand is why Misumaru shoots 'stay-away-from-me' aimed bullets at you if you even move 1/5 up the screen from bottom in her non-spells. It just feels so unnecessary and extra, why would I want to be that close to her anyway. At least I can understand it being done with Takane's. Also I do wonder why she is hard to deal with as she is. Since she just mainly spam essentially round bullets at different sizes. Is it the bullet animation and myriad of colours, serving as a distraction? Is it the steep angle of rotation for each layer, so Takane on crack? Or the fact that in certain spellcards, those bullets bounce off the sides of the screen at an alarmingly fast speed, making the whole pattern harder to read?
I mean... It probably doesn't help that the Yin Yang Orbs have insane hitboxes that basically cover the entire sprite, as opposed to normal bullets where the hitboxes are slightly smaller.
I find it funny how Jimbo somehow manages to be more annoying than almost anything else in the entire series. Most of the bosses bested by a big yin-yang orb of all things.
OKAY, SO MISUMARU Misumaru's existence adds a whole lot of questions, specifically concerning Reimu. You see, when you mentioned her having a loadout of Reimu Cards... She MADE the the Hakurei Orbs. So she has a very direct connection to the Hakurei Shrine. She also refers to Reimu as "inheritor" and "successor" suggesting that she knows the first Hakurei Shrine Maiden and by extension, likely the god of the Hakurei Shrine. So, her very existence lends a lot of lore and questions. And I am all for it.
Even with Reimu and/or her Yin-Yang Orb card, it's just best to be under Misumaru for the first spell. Still hell to dodge regardless of where you are. And bombs don't clear the orbs but Yuyuko's card does. Also, favourite place to go during second spell: between the ring of yellow balls and the blue balls in front of them, but a bit closer to the yellow balls. There is a big enough safe spot there, and yes it's a crazy place to go but that means less balls to deal with.
This stage is where the game starts to become hell for Marisa and Sakuya and sometimes Sanae due to the weirdness of her snakes (but I guess there's also the frogs, so eh maybe not).
*Insert Obligatory Jimbo Joke here* Why do I lately find Stage 4s harder than 5s? In HSiFS happened too. Anyway, Misumaru and her indestructible, bouncing, boomeranging balls can stay in that cave. I like the stage and boss music, although the Boss feels repetitive.
@@OkamiKai6980 Yeah, I can consistenly capture everything Megumu throws at me except her first spell and the second nonspell. Misumaru... From the second spell onwards I can capture those. Btw, this is the game with the least number of spellcards, right? No midboss has any and the bosses have the bare minimun (3 at stage 4?) I know it is to balance Sanyo's Card, but I find it funny enough to point out.
@@franbh94 yep. None of the mdboss have a spellcard. Not even Jimbo. I always die to Misumau's second spell(yes I KNOW.) Not because I'm bad but I'm desperate to use the vamp fang card.
@@OkamiKai6980 I have accepted that I cannot use the Fang. It may be one of the best cards? Maybe But does means nothing if every time I try to use it I get shot so hard that I end in a game with Piercing-lasers Marisa.
@@franbh94 well, I guess it only works for Mike, Takane(have to be careful with the nonspell), Sannyo(spell), Misuballru(1st and 3rd spell), Megumu(all I guess?), Chimata(maybe all except the1st spell and survival) and Momoyo. It's useful but you need to be careful-
Moon Madness is a nice mini-spell, it'd probably be the only active card I'd pick up. I also like Yukari's card mentions people are asking about "What is this edge of the screen?" I want to say it's like just off to the side of everyone's vision but there's really no explaining the birds eye view of arcade games
This has nothing to do with this game but i wanted to know if you'll play sapphire panlogism, and if you do which character you'll pick since poor Marisa doesn't have her lazers in this game.
Regardless of who he chooses, I think we can all agree that the stage 4 video will be fun. That being said, Marisa does have solid damage output in SP, though the lasers did get a major buff in terms of their range in this one game. It’ll be interesting to see who he chooses and why for the full playthrough
Now that you touch on it, I've always wished the common cards in the shops came as stronger versions of the cards you find in the stages. The power and money cards are the same ones that enemies drop, and while the bomb card is technically better than the bomb part card, it's still not very good. I would have added stronger cards that give 200 money, 200 power, and 3 bombs, similar to the 3 lives Mokou card.
He's kinda correct in that the Rainbow Magatama is the worst out of all the bullet clearers, but personally a bad bullet clearer is still a bullet clearer. He could have also pick the directional knives and worked with the extra bullets.
@@elbert0p1kachu Even though the Magatama's not generally useful over the course of the whole game, because it's consistently accessible just before it's most useful I'd say it's stronger than the UFO, which has all of the weakness of the Magatama without the particularly good matchups that make it worth buying from Misumaru.
@@TurboGhast. You have a good point, but if the UFO appears before the Magamata, I'd pick the UFO first. At the very least, the UFO doesn't cool down when it clears bullets.
You forgot to mention some things Firstly: Misumaru is actually the person who made Reimu's yin-yang orbs (if you're playing as Reimu this is commented on) Secondly: those yin-yang bullets can't be destroyed, so bombing is not very effective here
While bombing at least you're invincible while the bomb is ongoing. What really screws you up is when you go to clear them with an active card and they just fly right through and hit you in the face.
@@Evilmon2 Right.. Any active cards that clear bullets ( Vampire's Fang, Psychokinesis, Great Tengu's Barley Rice, Raiko's drum (which I forgot the name of the ability card), and a few more others that clear bullets won't work on her orbs. Can we get a nerf for her?
@@iwaniwaperry I think it's fine as long as you know. It's just pretty much guaranteed to blindside you the first time, but that's also kind of the nature of a lot of parts of bullet hells.
And next up, we've got Blue Aya Who has a tripod, for some reason (but I guess Aya had a camera and Hatate had a cellphone so I guess it makes sense?) Also... judging by what I saw from the glimpse on next episode... that was a very bad move on Blue Aya Also, also... the Jizo card would have been so helpful with an extra life and one more life piece... and Sakuya's knives deals great damage... so I'm not sure why you neglected both of them for the most useless card at this point in the game
He thought the Nazrin card would give him 300 money which would be worth 1.5 misses due to Eiki's card that he picked up. I still think 1.3 actual lives would be better since you'd 2 bombs and change along with them, but at least it'd be close. I can't say I blame him for the mistake, that's what I thought the +300 meant my first time picking the Nazrin card as well...
@@Evilmon2 I still don't understand properly what the + means (I assume that's your Power if your currency isn't enough?) But... I guess Megamanomega's runs are usually first time clears, so I suppose the mistake is understandable, but still... I would have thought he'd at least go for a life card
