Game:

Touhou DollDraft (2021)

Duration: 52:23

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8

00:00 Main Menu
00:09 Chapter 1 (Hole Inside A Hole)
02:34 Chapter 2 (Special Relativity)
05:25 Chapter 2 Tutorial / Battle
10:45 Chapter 3 (They Were Three)
11:27 Chapter 3 Battle
20:48 Chapter 4 (Queen of Hearts)
21:49 Chapter 4 Battle
31:04 Chapter 5 (Crazy Tea Party Trial)
32:13 Chapter 5 Battle
38:15 Chapter 6 (General Relativity)
39:14 Chapter 6 Battle
51:51 Chapter 7 (Mirror Inside A Mirror)

I noticed Touhou DollDraft was 1) on sale and 2) actually playable on Mac, so I went ahead and bought it. The Touhou Wiki made me think this was some multiplayer board / party game but it's closer to a "strategy" game. In Touhou Doll Draft, you play against three other players. Each round, you're all taken to a shop where you can draft / buy dolls for your army. After shopping and prepping your dolls, you fight another player's army. A full match will make you fight each player four times (for a total of 12 rounds) but matches end early if a player loses all their HP (note: in Story Mode, matches only end if the player or AI boss hits 0 HP).

The reason I call it a strategy game (with the quotes) is that this game is pretty unbalanced. DollDraft isn't a board game but "party game" isn't inaccurate, especially with mechanics like swiping (which lets you buy dolls that other players have already picked). The most "consistent" strategy I found is to establish an early defense (buy two 1g Dolls, while leaving 1g left over so you can field both of them) then save up and buy the Reimu doll as early as possible.

It does rely on shop RNG but if you get the Reimu doll ASAP you're guaranteed an early lead. Reimu permanently powers up after every turn, and nobody will have the money to swipe Reimu off you if you buy her in Round 3 / 4. Once you have Reimu, a Marisa and Eirin (who will heal you after each round) you can do whatever. The Story Mode is pretty easy until you get to Chapter 6.

Chapter 6 is an absurd difficulty spike. The boss is completely busted because they start with more money. The only consistent strategy is "open with Hina, Suwako, then try to field the 5 unique Human type characters (Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya, Mokou and Sanae)". Even though I followed this strategy, I only barely won, and only because Reimu's rare (but completely OP ability) to nullify damage kicked in at 48:20. Without that, this would have been a complete loss.

Anyway, DollDraft seems interesting. It's a shame that the campaign is ridiculously short. I also wish the game explained itself better, there are way too many mechanics I don't understand (like the difference between B.Pts and S.Pts).

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