Gameplay

*Touhou: Lost Word* is a mobile game that borrows from the mainline Touhou series but operates on an gacha RPG/Visual Novel hybrid scheme. The core gameplay is marked by a turn-based attack system against NPC enemies that arrive in waves. In between, the story is exposited via Visual Novel-like cutscenes in which the player can interact with the other characters. These interactions do not alter core gameplay in any way. In support of the core gameplay, there are also a number of collection-based, upgrade-based, and chance-based systems that the player must manage in order to progress.

## Core Gameplay

### Basic Battle Mechanics

Battling in *Touhou: Lost Word* is heavily governed by a number of auxiliary mechanics that support the main damage-dealing ones. In order to progress without heavy grinding, a cursory understanding of each is required, although each stage can also be brute-forced by sufficiently levelled characters if required (in fact, this is the main method of farming stages in the later game).

Battle is strictly turn-based, with a party of up to 6 units (called 'Friends') broken up into an attacking front and a rear guard. Up to three in the front guard can attack in the player's turn, in the process leaving them exposed to attacks in the next turn. Up to three in the rear guard are left inactive. While they are in the rear, party members cannot be attacked. On the player's turn, each of the front can attack once, using either a Spread Shot, a Focus Shot, or a Spell Card (note that while Spell Cards are exhaustible, the other two are not). The player can also activate Boost to increase their attack power, Graze to shield themself from attacks, or Skills to add status effects into play. These actions do not use up a party member's attack.

Before a battle begins, players can choose their party and place them in whatever configuration they choose. They can also select from pre-determined parties that they have formulated beforehand. The pre-battle screen also gives information on the different goals of the battle, the rewards that might be earned from it, and the different Essences, Phases, and Status Effects that might be useful.

Up to three attackers can be up against the party at a time, in a group called a 'wave'. Each wave appears when the prior one was defeated, and will not end until all attackers in the wave are defeated. Attackers will either be throwaway mooks, or bosses. Bosses are signalled by the centre row of the screen turning red, and a warning appearing on it. While mooks can only use their own Focus or Spread Shots on party members, Bosses are also capable of using spell cards. The time until a boss will use their spell card is indicated by a line of divots just below their health bar. Each divot fills up by the end of a turn cycle. When the line is completely full, a spell card will be used on the next turn.

Damage is heavily moderated by Essences and Phases, which together make up a character's Temperament. Each Essence or Phase is weak to one of its kind and strong against another. These strengths and weaknesses cause both Friends and enemies to either resist attacks they are strong against, reducing damage taken, or be weak against attacks they are weak against, dealing them extra damage or even breaking their Barriers. The strengths and weaknesses of an enemy can be identified by tapping on them and observing the strengths and weaknesses that appear on the left-hand-side of the screen.

To rescind an action while they are still picking which attacks to use, the player can click the back button in the bottom-left corner of the screen to jump back to a previous party member. To have the CPU pick actions for them while using only Spread or Focus shots, the player can click the AUTO button at the top. To enable Spell Cards as well, the player can click the FULL AUTO button. Note that these two latter buttons should be disengaged in the final attacking sequence if the player does not wish for the status to carry over to the next battle; these can also be disengaged during the intro sequence of a new battle, as well as in any point during a battle bar the outro sequence.

### Main Story

*Touhou: Lost Word*'s main story is presented in Chapters; each chapter is further subdivided into Episodes, and each Episode divided into individual stages. Each unlocks as the last one of its kind is cleared. Each Chapter generally covers a story arc, while each Episode generally covers the introduction/reintroduction of a character or new area.

Stages come in two forms, signified by their naming in relation to their episode: stages named "*Episode Name Part X"* contain story information and have battles specifically tailored to storytelling, while stages named *"Episode Name Battle X"* are the storytelling equivalent of random encounters and serve to fill out the content. Story-based stages may also feature temporary party members, who cannot be removed and are locked into certain positions for the initial run of the stage. Most story-based stages also feature a boss, while most battle stages are populated entirely by various mooks.

Clearing a stage from the main Story, as well as clearing a stage from the main Story will 3 stars/all goals met, awards the player with the completion of a task. After a chapter has been completed, the player can go back and replay the stages within at a higher difficulty. There are multiple higher tiers of difficulty, each entailing a difficulty spike of an average 20 player levels or more.

### Daily Stages

Daily stages come in three types according to the rewards they give: scrolls, books, or tiles. Each can be accessed on 3 individual days of the week and have a daily play limit of 3 battles. All are accessible on Sundays, making up for the discrepancy between stages and days of the week; on Sundays, the total number of stages playable increases to 9, three for each category.

Each category of daily stage has a number of stages within, increasing in difficulty and named according to a theme. All stages consist of a single wave of three mooks. While each stage is unlockable at a certain player level, they will be easier to complete without spamming Spell Cards if you wait until you reach the recommended player level. (However, spamming Spell Cards is arguably a viable strategy here, as there is no need to preserve them for further waves).

### Event Stages

Events are laid out similarly to the Main stages, with each event being an Episode of its own. Event stages are released in small groups over the course of the event, with the rewards increasing in volume as you progress further. Event stages reward the player with both normal drops and Event Points, which can be exchanged for a variety of things during the event. There are also rare event drops that can also be exchanged for certain rewards. After completing a stage on a given difficulty, you can instantly repeat said stage at the next, higher difficulty level (though the vast difficulty spike is still there). Increasing the difficulty level of a stage vastly increases the number of Event Points earned from the stage.

Story-based event stages have all the hallmarks of Story-based Main stages, such as cutscenes, temporary party members, and bosses. In addition, the first time you play them on a given difficulty, these stages have a x3 loot drop multiplier.

## Supporting Gameplay

### Friends

Friends is the name given to the characters that can be obtained as playable units. Each friend has their own stats and qualities, and can be accessed from the 'Friends' button on the bottom-left of the main screen. There are currently 100 slots for friends available, with extra slots being purchasable at Nitori's Delivery.

Friends can be obtained in duplicate, with this being a required mechanic for levelling friends up, via 'Limit Breaks'. From the Friend's readout, a number of items can be applied to them to level them up - Incense Woods for their basic ATK, Agility, DEF, and HP, Tiles to Enhance them, Tokens to Awaken them, and Coins to pay for these procedures. Story Cards can also be Equipped to their Spell Cards, in order to impart effects when the cards are used in battle.

Friends can be removed outright from the list by 'Parting Ways' with them. This will yield a number of rewards and is one of only two ways to obtain Tokens. Removing friends in permanent and cannot be undone.

### Spell Cards

Spell cards are items that give certain status effects when equipped to Spell Cards that are subsequently played in battle. Spell Cards currently come in three rankings - 3, 4, and 5 stars, though there is clear infrastructure present for 1 and 2 star cards to become available at a later date. They can be accessed from the 'Spell Cards' button on the bottom of the screen.

Similarly to friends, Spell Cards can be Enhanced and Limit Broken. Limit Breaking a Spell Card also yields increasing amounts of background lore about the scene depicted on the card's art. Spell Cards can also be Parted Ways with, and higher-level spell cards, due to their rarity, give larger amounts of Tokens and other rewards when this occurs.

### Prayer

Prayer is the gacha mechanic utilised by *Touhou: Lost Word* and is the main source of Friends and Spell Cards. There is a 5% default Friend drop rate, with all other drops being Spell Cards. These rates vary during events. By praying with God Crystals, 1 out of 10 items obtained is guaranteed to be a Friend.

There are currently 4 methods of prayer avaliable to the player:

1. Standard Prayers. These have no alteration to drop rates, and can be prayed in 1 or 10 prayer groups, or with God Crystals.
2. Event Prayers. These have increased drops of Event Friends, at the cost of other Friends, and can be prayed in 1 or 10 prayer groups, or with God Crystals. These prayers also generate Points, 1 for each prayer. 150 of these can be exchanged directly for an event character; otherwise, these revert to Seal Crystals at the end of the event period.
3. Rinnosuke's Roulette Wheel. This appears on daily login and grants free Standard Prayers. These vanish at the end of the day, and come in groups of 10, 20, 30, or 100.
4. Rituals. Rituals come as an item that can be purchased or earned, and come in Card and Friend variants. Friend rituals guarantee a single Friend, while Card rituals guarantee a Spell Card of 4 stars or higher.