Hey, you know what we haven't seen yet in this series of reviews? JRPGS! There's a surprisingly high number of Touhou JRPGs, but many of them remain untranslated... and RPGs are one of the hardest genres to muddle through when you don't know the language. Not impossible, I've done it myself, but it's hard. Luckily, this one's in English!
![[Image: U4KmKff.png]](https://i.imgur.com/U4KmKff.png)
Featuring a Who's Who of the Touhou characters everyone cares about, The Genius of Sappheiros starts Reimu and her eleven fellow party members as they adventure around Gensokyo, trying to track down the source of a mysterious fog. Playing like a classic Final Fantasy game (even starting on the right side of battle), each character has unique abilities and spells they can use in battle to overcome the various enemies and bosses. Each character has some customization - you can pursue different ability branches and equip different attacks from a much larger pool, allowing you to put each character in a way you want to use them.
![[Image: AAtONhG.png]](https://i.imgur.com/AAtONhG.png)
Also bringing depth to the battle system are the Formations and Commander. The Formations are different ways you can arrange your characters in battle, giving stat bonuses and penalties. You don't start with them, though, you need to find them throughout the game world by completing various tasks - and there's 50 of them, scattered through 2, 3, 4, and 5 person parties. The Commander, meanwhile, is assigning one of your party members to a special slot that allows them to use certain abilities in battle instead of battling, and functions as a wonderful way to train people up. With the array of status effects, field conditions, spell abilities, and equipment available, TGoS has a dizzying amount of complexity for what looks like a basic JRPG on the surface.
![[Image: K2Pz6eg.png]](https://i.imgur.com/K2Pz6eg.png)
The battle system really shines when it comes to bosses - normal enemies are usually quick wipeouts one way or another, but bosses are slow back and forths. They tend to be careful battles that require understanding the boss's strengths and weaknesses if you want to have any hope of survival, and are when the more tactical members of your group shine. On the overworld, meanwhile, each dungeon has its own unique gimmick to keep things interesting - you might have to color yourself to knock down different types of flowers, or split your team into two groups in what's probably the best boss battles of the game.
![[Image: 8agemTa.png]](https://i.imgur.com/8agemTa.png)
Boss battles are a double-edged sword, though. Often, they result in following a strategy to the letter or losing, making it take many losses and retries to figure out the exact way to beat a boss. Even then, it's easy for a boss to capitalize on one mistake, allowing it to demolish your party in three turns before you can do anything to counterattack. The damage sponginess and high defenses of most bosses don't help, ensuring that a normal knockdown battle will be difficult. All this results in bosses being both the highlight and lowlight of the game, often walling you off for a while but incredibly satisfying to defeat.
![[Image: BI1BGiV.png]](https://i.imgur.com/BI1BGiV.png)
Fun fact: There's two followup games and a PS Vita updated rerelease! And I have no knowledge of any of them. What a contrast to TKK, huh?
THE VERDICT
While it has a bad habit of turning bosses into difficulty spikes, the combat system for TGoS is very satisfying. The Weekend rerelease (the translated one) is more forgiving of death and generally accessible than the original versions, making them very good for people who haven't played 500 JRPGs beforehand. While there's some things I can't judge it on thanks to not finishing it yet, overall, The Genius of Sappheiros is a delightfully fun JRPG that's worth a playthrough for fans of the genre. 4 and a half Reimus out of 5.
Featuring a Who's Who of the Touhou characters everyone cares about, The Genius of Sappheiros starts Reimu and her eleven fellow party members as they adventure around Gensokyo, trying to track down the source of a mysterious fog. Playing like a classic Final Fantasy game (even starting on the right side of battle), each character has unique abilities and spells they can use in battle to overcome the various enemies and bosses. Each character has some customization - you can pursue different ability branches and equip different attacks from a much larger pool, allowing you to put each character in a way you want to use them.
Also bringing depth to the battle system are the Formations and Commander. The Formations are different ways you can arrange your characters in battle, giving stat bonuses and penalties. You don't start with them, though, you need to find them throughout the game world by completing various tasks - and there's 50 of them, scattered through 2, 3, 4, and 5 person parties. The Commander, meanwhile, is assigning one of your party members to a special slot that allows them to use certain abilities in battle instead of battling, and functions as a wonderful way to train people up. With the array of status effects, field conditions, spell abilities, and equipment available, TGoS has a dizzying amount of complexity for what looks like a basic JRPG on the surface.
The battle system really shines when it comes to bosses - normal enemies are usually quick wipeouts one way or another, but bosses are slow back and forths. They tend to be careful battles that require understanding the boss's strengths and weaknesses if you want to have any hope of survival, and are when the more tactical members of your group shine. On the overworld, meanwhile, each dungeon has its own unique gimmick to keep things interesting - you might have to color yourself to knock down different types of flowers, or split your team into two groups in what's probably the best boss battles of the game.
Boss battles are a double-edged sword, though. Often, they result in following a strategy to the letter or losing, making it take many losses and retries to figure out the exact way to beat a boss. Even then, it's easy for a boss to capitalize on one mistake, allowing it to demolish your party in three turns before you can do anything to counterattack. The damage sponginess and high defenses of most bosses don't help, ensuring that a normal knockdown battle will be difficult. All this results in bosses being both the highlight and lowlight of the game, often walling you off for a while but incredibly satisfying to defeat.
Fun fact: There's two followup games and a PS Vita updated rerelease! And I have no knowledge of any of them. What a contrast to TKK, huh?
THE VERDICT
While it has a bad habit of turning bosses into difficulty spikes, the combat system for TGoS is very satisfying. The Weekend rerelease (the translated one) is more forgiving of death and generally accessible than the original versions, making them very good for people who haven't played 500 JRPGs beforehand. While there's some things I can't judge it on thanks to not finishing it yet, overall, The Genius of Sappheiros is a delightfully fun JRPG that's worth a playthrough for fans of the genre. 4 and a half Reimus out of 5.
![[Image: s2n7oi.png]](https://files.catbox.moe/s2n7oi.png)
