An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (2025)

The intro is unchanged from vanilla, with the only difference being more choice with starters. The only reason I'm mentioning it is because this time there won't be any user voting for my starter...

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (1)

Yeah, I'm just gonna go with Marisa this time. She is my favourite after all. Anyway, I get her, get the whole rundown from Reimu and Sanae, and then go to check my starter. A Black Mark, huh? Neat, that'll go well with the Dream Sha-

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (2)

Uhhh...

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (3)

That's not a Dream Shard.

As I mentioned in the opener, this run is a bit different. If you transfer save data that has completed the Puppet Exhibition, (Or if you cheat, like I did, since my prior clear data doesn't work with Extended), your Starter's Dream Shard will be replaced by a Boundary Trance. The Boundary Trance is the Dream Shard on steroids. It has the same caveat (only Heart Mark puppets can use it), but the benefits are far greater, raising your Puppet's stats by a full 100% rather than the 10% of the Dream Shard. So then naturally I fight Marisa.

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (4)

That's one Yin Energy from the enemy Marisa against one Yang Energy from my own. This fight is easy with the Dream Shard, and with the Boundary Trance it's nearly impossible to lose, as even puppets like Akyuu and Kosuzu will HEAVILY outstat the Marisa here with it. Sanae then gives me the Puppet Box and ten Seal Threads, as per usual.

As we leave, though, an unfamiliar face who definitely wasn't there in vanilla is standing around.

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (5)

He just says some things about how even things that seem familiar may trick you. This is the giveaway that Extended will not play out exactly like Vanilla Shard of Dreams. The level curve has been changed as there are plenty of new areas and detours you can take, and new people you can meet, too. Speaking of people you can meet, there's somebody of note standing around the Hakurei Shrine.

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (6)

A very good doggo. We'll speak about Aunn more once her puppet appears. From there, I go to seal all the Puppets I can find on Route 1.

Speaking of, New Puppets not seen in vanilla Shard of Dreams will be in Italics when I find them in the grass. The ones I found in the grass were Chen, Nazrin, Daiyousei, Lily, Eternity and Sukuna.

I then head out to fight Novice Puppeteer Yuuichi. He has one puppet as per vanilla, but instead of a level 4 Nazrin it's a level 3 Mike. Novice Puppeteer Sachie is also there, and still has her Lily, but it's dropped a level. The Barrel Seija still exists, too, and is still a Seija. Rascal Osamu still has his two Chens, but they've dropped a level each. And yes, the same goes for Farmer Motoyuki's Aki sisters, too. A new trainer also ambushes you right before the human village: Novice Maid Modena, who has a level 6 Aunn.

The encounter with Medicine occurs as usual.

The Human Village has changed a bit, most notably the introduction of the pub Gedontei, ran by Miyoi Okunoda. Inside, I run into Kotohime, who tries to arrest me for being in a pub despite looking young. Wut? She has two level 7 Kotohimes.

One thing that hasn't changed about the Human Village is that the well Kisume also still exists.

The grass in the Human Village yields Akyuu, Keine, Miyoi, Sekibanki, Kosuzu and Kokoro. As an aside, Miyoi can drop Vintage Wine, making money farming in the early game MUCH easier.

The Meeting with Akyuu and the battle against the members of Team ⑨ go much like in vanilla, and my uber-buffed Marisa stomps 'em all into dust, so I'll just post their levels.

Cirno: Level 7 Rumia, Level 7 Cirno (another missed opportunity).

Daiyousei: Level 7 Cirno, Level 8 Daiyousei (I get the feeling somebody on the dev team really disliked Cirno, as her levels are lower than the rest of Team ⑨)

Wriggle: Level 7 Daiyousei, Level 8 Wriggle

Mystia: Level 7 Wriggle, Level 8 Mystia

Rumia: Level 8 Cirno, Level 8 Daiyousei, Level 8 Mystia, Level 8 Wriggle, Level ⑨ Rumia.

After beating them, Akyuu catches up to me and escorts me to Suzunaan. Then I go inside and meet Kosuzu and Mamizou as usual, and head onto Route 3.

Route 3 has the same as in Shard of Dreams' vanilla: Kotohime, Benben, Kyouko, Yatsuhashi, Raiko and Nue. There's also still the Wriggle in a Barrel. From there, I head to Myouren Temple to get the first Incident Case File from Miko.

Myouren Temple's Grass contains Kyouko, Yorigami, Hijiri, Shou, Ichirin and Murasa. The Cemetery's grass contains Kogasa, Yuyuko, Yoshika, Youmu and Mima.

At the end of the Cemetery, I fight Yoshika, who has three Yoshikas, all level 10. Then, I head into the cave, which has Tojiko, Yoshika and Seiga. I then move to enter the Mausoleum proper and fight Seiga, who has two level 12 Yoshikas and a level 14 Seiga. After Marisa bowls her over, I make my way inside and head into the grass, which contains the same puppets as the Cemetery Cave, in addition to Miko and Futo.

I then muscle my way past Tojiko (Two Tojikos, one level 13 and one level 14) and Futo (Level 14 Seiga, level 14 Futo) and face Miko.

Miko's team is Tojiko (Level 14), Futo (Level 14), Miko (Level 15) and a new puppet, Saki (Level 14). Marisa beats the snot outta 'em.

After that, I go back to the Human Village and get the Puppet Book from Akyuu, then head towards Kourindou, only to get ambushed by Reimu as I leave the Human Village. Reimu leads off with Aunn (Level 15), and also has a Reimu (Level 17), Suika (Level 15) and Aya (Level 15). Her Reimu manages to take a hit and retaliate, but the Boundary Trance makes the hit a glancing one, and Marisa took it out with a second blow.

After healing I return to Route 5 and comb the grass. I find Tokiko, Rumia, Eternity, Rika, Wriggle, Sumireko and Mystia. There's also still the Rinnosuke in a pot outside Kourindou.

After heading into Kourindou, I get a package to deliver to Alice in the Forest of Magic. The Grass in the section immediately reachable from Route 5 yields Luna, Sunny, Alice, Narumi and Star. After getting them, I deliver the package to Alice. As I explore the forest further, however...

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (7)

I find this sparkly spot. I walk onto it and...

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (8)

...Find myself here. Land of the Backdoor, eh...? I'll get to exploring... next update.

An exercise in Game-Breaking: Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams Extended (2025)

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