2.5 Anniversary Dev Letter #28 Recap

It is time for Dev Letter #28, but this is no ordinary Dev Letter, it's a special 2.5 Anniversary Edition which as you will see, is set to impress! From a long awaited type of Story Content, to a new rarity with new kinds of units, to even more challenge content, and there is more there that came from! As for additional freebies, we will be getting 5 Seal Crystals and 1500 Coins for every 500 Reposts, but as for the special edition of Happy News, it's time for Phantasma and Michael to present to us just that!

From BGMs via the Discord Popularity Poll to Ultra Festival Forever Prayers, to Rituals, to even a special version of our monthly Login Bonus, this 2.5 Anniversary is sure to provide some awesome freebies!

It's that time for the happy Fantasy Rebirth news! Not only were Toyosatomimi no Miko and Hata no Kokoro's Fantasy Rebirth costumes unmasked, but the date we have desired for their arrival now sits at November 24th, leaving just over 2 weeks of warm waiting! However, the Four Temples of Hifuu: Code Bm3 that are Watatsuki no Yorihime (B3), Watatsuki no Toyohime (B3), Sagume Kishin (B3) and Kaguya Houraisan (B3) are also joining in when it comes to those special Mirrors, with the Watatsuki Sisters arriving on November 17th and Sagume and Kaguya coming on the 24th!

We also get our monthly dose of Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 upgrades set to arrive on November 24th. This time, we have more Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 Upgrades to look forward to, all for Koishi Komeiji (L1), Clownpiece (L1), Junko (L1), Marisa Kirisame (Z1) Yuyuko Saigyouji (R2) and Youmu Konpaku (R8). To sum up this collection of upgrades, they are pure, powerful, shocking, scorching hot, skilful, here to make a killing as well as never misses! Is this foreshadowing for what the Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 upgrades entail this time around? Maybe...

You might have noticed 2 newer names up above, and there is a reason for it! To be released in the near future, Clownpiece and Junko arrive with not just their Fantasy Rebirth costumes, but a loaded Progression Tree of Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 Upgrades! In addition, Hecatia Lapislazuli's Fantasy Rebirth and her Costume is Falling as well!

We love new events, and we also like sequel-esque ones too, and when it comes to another Phantom Thief Events, will the three Friends with new costumes live to tell the tail? Scratch that, of course they will! Introducing Code Name: Picara ~Five Tails~ where Chen, Rin Kaenbyou and Mike Goutokuji are all looking to get their paws on some valuable treasure!

Speaking of new, Elemental EX has a new stage in the sun, being, well, Sun EX! Going up against the Komeiji Sisters of C3, an awesome Story Card in the form of Let The Oil Money Flow will have a new home via this stage, previously being available via C3 Kogasa Tatara's Epic Prayer!

Meanwhile, the climb continues in the Scarlet Devil Tower, because another 10 Floors will be available starting November 17th, taking us up to Floor 330! In addition, a campaign is being held where you can get yourself an Exchange Ema, which may be of value for both new and old players!

For those who love new Manga that is Gensokyo Tales of Fantasy, it's time to meat a new installment titled Meat Prayer! Illustrated by Zounose and set to be available from November 24th? What else could we meat in this story?

It's time for 2 new tracks to enter the rhythmic world of Reimu's Great Exorcism! I'm Alright! and α Decay will be available on November 24th which will also be when we get limited tasks that give out 30 Seal Crystals, 2 Paper Dolls and a Friend Ritual!

And finally, we have our monthly Ritual and Prayer Pool Updates, as well as a limited Daily EXP Quest and a 2.5 Anniversary Edition of Limited Daily Quests!

And here is what the last 1-2 weeks of teasing on the Official LostWord Global Channel have been leading up to! At long last, introducing another instalment of Hifuu LostWord called Code L? coming as Act 1, and a pair (or quartet?) of Friends ready to shake things up in this game, but more on the latter a little later...

Now about that duo/quarter of Friends, on one hand, we have LR1 Renko Usami (Investigating a Certain Makai God) who is accompanied by the PC98 era's very own Shinki, but on the other is LM1 Maribel Hearn (Interpreting an Evil Spirit), and yes, that is the one and only Mima alongside her!

There is a lot that separates these Friends from others we have seen, from their rarity as Genic Friends, how they appear in Prayers, Home Screen and Party Formation, a Genic-Exclusive type of Skill known as Resonance and much more!

But let's break it all down. Genic Friends have the same Max Stat Total of 7575, just like a usual Relic Friend, and in addition, they also require Relic Paper Disks, which means that you won't have to worry about any other Limit Breaking items for them!

As for how they appear when you are using them for Home Screen or Party Formation, for example with LR1 Renko, if she is selected for Home Screen, it will just show Renko, but in Party Formation, it will show Shinki instead. In Prayers and such, however, it shows up with both of them. This is a similar outcome with Maribel and Mima as well.

Regarding Resonance, both LR1 Renko and LM1 Maribel's Skill 3 are unique in the sense that 2 of its effects are actually dependent on how many Friends are present at the front guard, with Genic Friends counting as 2 Friends instead of 1. Taking LR1 Renko's Spirit Power effect on Skill 3, the increase for the front guard is 0.25 x the number of Friends there, and with it being used by a Genic, the minimum gain is 0.50 and the highest possible gain right now would be 0.25 x 6 = 1.50 if there are 3 Genics at the front. While there are only 2 new Genics instead of 3, there will be more where that came from a little later...

For a few extra bits of information that makes these Genic Friends stand out, we have their themes not only THLW Original BGMs, but also have vocals, and they are pretty awesome. In addition, their Voice Actors contribute to both Genic Friends on top of including 6 credited Voice Actors, which is a neat little detail. In addition, when it comes to upgrading them to Rank 4 to unlock the unique Skill 3, you will require a Max Limit Broken 1★ Story Card for both Report #1 and Report #9.

And what about VS Divergent Spirits, one may ask? Well prepare for trouble, and make it double (thankfully not quadruple)! Enter Shinki (LR1) and Mima (LM1), both stages have their Story Cards you can win during the upcoming 2 weeks, being Makai God's Descent and Evil Spirit Possession! In addition, there will be a Clear Challenge Campaign that will provide you with some awesome rewards once you clear certain tasks!

If you still have Relic Paper Disks to spend or you may have missed out on any of the following before, have no fear, as the 2.5 Anniversary Relic Friend Collection features the first 8 Relic Friends and has Shared Exchange Points as these Friends are rotated around until they have all appeared twice!

Ayayaya, we still have more to cover in this section? I see, a new scoop courtesy of Bunbunmaru News! It looks like Aya Shameimaru (Pseudo Shikigami: Zendouki Gigaku) will be available in her Prayer on November 17th!

From November 10th onwards, the wait will finally be over! The Buddy System is upon us, and it comes with all kinds of awesome stuff! From being potentially able to use 2 of the same Friend via Helper, to being able to add up to 50 Buddies, to also being able to send requests to Helpers used in battle, to even a new Buddy Point Exchange Shop! And yes, this will mean you can potentially have 3 Genic Friends at the forefront if your helper has just that!

Speaking of Buddy Points, You can gain 10 of them for every helper, although you can instead get 100 by using a Buddy's Helper, for a max total of 1000 Buddy Points per day! This also applies when someone is using your helpers, as when a new day begins, it will show up with up to 1000 Buddy Points gained from the previous day from other people using your Helper!

In addition, this comes with a special Buddy System Campaign! From November 10th to the end of the year, there will be Buddy Tasks that when completed, will grant a total of 200 Free Ritual Pulls!

And for those who may not have been aware, there has been a Buddy System Countdown on Discord where 5 Seal Crystals and 1500 Coins will be rewarded for reaching 200 total screenshots of Player Profiles. This target was smashed out of the park, but there is more where that came from! 10 Players who participated will be randomly selected and may win 50 Seal Crystals, 30,000 Coins, 40 of all Scrolls (3), 20x of all Tiles (3), 15 of every Book X (3), and 50 of every Incense!

With our Buddies Assembled, let's go over a bunch of packs and bonuses, like how people will get 2x God Crystals on their first purchases from November 10th, a one-time Ultra Festival Exchange Ema Pack, a one-time Festival Exchange Ema Pack, some Anniversary Limited Packs including Limit Breaking materials and God Crystals and Paper Doll Collection Packs!

Let's go over a few final things that this Dev Letter full of Happy News still has to offer. For example, we have the 2.5 Anniversary Survey available from November 10th to December 15th which awards 5 Seal Crystals to all who complete it! In addition, we have a reminder of all the rewards to look forward to. And last but by absolutely zero means least, we have a new MV as part of the MV Project for Toyosatomimi no Miko! It is titled "Sentimental Signals" and you could say it serves as the Yin to the Yang of "Holy Again"!

With Dev Letter Number 28 out of the way, we can only hope you guys have enjoyed this special time for the game, with all kinds of enjoyment to look forward to! That said though, thank you as always for supporting Touhou LostWord, and here is to more exciting times!