Touhou 15: Kanjuden - Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom

About This File​

Release Information
Type: Bullet Hell
Developer: Team Shanghai Alice
Publisher: Team Shanghai Alice
Release: Comiket 88, on August 14, 2015
Language: English-Patched (ThCrap Self-Updating Standalone)
Silhouette On Cover: Junko (Final Boss)

Character Information
Playable Characters: 4
(Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Reisen)
Shot Types: 1 Each

Description
Someone's causing havoc in the Lunar Capital, and as a result, Lunarians are descending to Gensokyo in order to purify it so that it can be suitable for them to live there. With two problems to conquer, our girls set out to stop the Lunarian invasion - which also concerns Reisen, who also goes to investigate - and find the perpetrator behind the incident.

Unique Gameplay Mechanics
This game has got a TON of unique features. Read this carefully.

Chapters
* Every stage in this game, including cards in each boss fight, is split up into segments called Chapters, and at the conclusion of each, the game judges how well you performed in that segment, rewarding good play with Life Pieces or Bomb Pieces, depending which mode you're playing.

Game Modes
* LoLK asks a rather unique question first thing when you start a new game - this is the first, and currently the only, game in the series that asks you to pick a game mode. Here's the differences between the two:

Legacy Mode
* You get several lives, and you respawn when you die, with a limited number of credits to utilize. Pretty standard fare.
* This mode is heavy on Life Pieces; in exchange, you'll have difficulty earning large amounts of Bombs. On one hand, you only earn one Bomb per midboss after stage 2, so if you're used to more liberal Bomb earnings, you might be a bit uncomfortable with how stingy Legacy Mode is with handing them out. On the other hand, a skilled player will end up racking up tons of Extends rather quickly, making having tons of Bombs less necessary.
* Those seeking to play LoLK the way they're used to playing other Touhou games should pick this mode.

PointDevice Mode
* This mode makes it so the game auto-saves your progress after each Chapter, acting like auto-save checkpoints you'd see in other modern games. The catch? You only get one life - your Life counter is totally disabled; you cannot earn more extra lives and you'll never see Life Pieces.
* This means that when you die, there's no recourse but to start from your last save.
* However, one of the nice things about PD mode is that your Bomb count is also saved, so the game state is exactly what it was when you got there.
* So essentially, what you're doing is attempting a no-miss run with occasional checkpoints in the event that you screw up and die. Since the game saves, instead of utilizing a Credits system, this means you get to retry from your last save as many times as you need to until you finally clear that troublesome spell card.
* It's important to note that saves made in PD Mode stick around for subsequent play sessions - the game remembers one save state per character. If you reload the game and pick the same character, you'll be asked if you want to Resume, or trash the save and Restart. (Yes, Resume is the red option for some weird reason.)
* This mode is very heavy on Bombs because it lacks extra lives entirely.
If you're looking to improve your general or death-bombing skills, PD Mode can be a great choice.
* Those seeking to play LoLK in a more challenging and more modern way will want to pick this mode.

Earning Life/Bomb Pieces
* This also differs depending upon the mode you're playing.

Life Pieces
* Legacy: You get Life Pieces at the end of each Chapter, appropriate for how well you performed, but to get anything, the Chapter score must be 1 million or higher.
* PointDevice:
Since you can't earn extra lives in PD Mode, you get Bomb Pieces instead, using the methodology noted above for earning Life Pieces.

Bomb Pieces
* Legacy: You'll receive a full Bomb for each midboss you defeat in stage 2 and onward. You'll also get a Bomb Piece for acquiring another Life Piece when you're already maxed out on lives.
* PointDevice:
You receive Bomb Pieces instead of Life Pieces at the end of each Chapter using the above methodology for determining Life Piece gain in Legacy Mode (since you can't earn extra lives in PD Mode).

Advanced Grazing System
* The grazing system is no longer only worth points - in this game, grazing becomes an outright requirement if you want more lives or bombs.
-> The Chapter score assessment methodology takes grazing into account, and that's the only way you're going to earn Life Pieces in Legacy Mode or Bombs in PointDevice Mode.
-> To encourage grazing, LoLK allows you to graze the same bullet multiple times, as if they were lasers. (A single bullet can yield up to 11 GP - 1 point for the initial graze, up to 5 more for staying close to it, and 5 more for picking up the point item generated for a 1-second graze.) The drawback is that grazing normal bullets in this way is slower than just grazing an actual laser instead, so lasers are always preferable if there are any around.
* As long as you're grazing bullets, items fall more slowly, similar to Sakuya's ability in IN.

If the game isn't working at all or properly: