Venturing in...(A million in Otherworldy Venture and some tips)

I've been playing Otherworldly Venture for a few days.

I reached a million.

I first managed to get to Wave 56, no hit on Yoshiro.

The secret is...that Soh can rewind time. (;3)

But I couldn't go any further.

I complained a lot to myself. And on Twitter.

But on my current venture, I'm doing quite well. I made it to 72! But I don't have enough orbs to continue...

72, no damage on Yoshiro.
She will die in one hit in later stages,  even with full health, so it's best to protect her as much as possible.

Conserving orbs and rations for when Festering Seethe arrive is the key to enduring the nightmares of later waves.

On wave 56, I recall fighting for my life against Raikobo and Cursed Soh's specter but on my next run, they appeared on wave 46.

But this time I was prepared with 9k orbs! Using the boosting options (attack/defense) is a must or you won't do any damage to anything. It's so frustrating...

If you max out Giko, you take no damage!!!

no damage taken

Tanking the fire attack lol

When I discovered this, I tried to just get hit as much as possible to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

Back to damage output...

A normal little Seethe can take almost 3 combos to kill. With the talisman to greatly boost Soh's attack power. I also die in one hit so I'm probably going to take off the 'greatly reduce damage from Seethe' for Soh because it's useless...(yet I keep it just in case? Sigh...)

I can't continue on this run. 72 is the max. I don't have enough orbs to defend myself from Cursed Soh and the wave of Seethe...

I really wanted to get to wave 100. Is it possible?

Tips:

• Use Giko and Gikon. 5 Giko makes everyone except Yoshiro invulnerable.
• Conserve orbs as much as possible to use them when needed.
• Take the '1000 orbs' option whenever possible. It's worth 2 uses at the shrine.
• Don't go near Yoshiro when fighting a Festering Seethe. Make sure she's properly protected at all times because you won't be able to defend her without drawing the Festering Seethe to her.
• In later stages, Yoshiro will die in one hit from even the weakest Seethe. Get used to protecting her all the time. It's best to aim for her to never take damage.
• Use talismans to boost the Villagers' health. Soh will die in one hit in later levels anyway.
• Always hit that running box bastard!!!

Evil!!

A death on 71...

Yep. That's how it is sometimes.

This DLC gave me lots of cool death scenes though.

With no Maiden to channel the Goddess, all that's left is the spirit of the previous Maiden.

(You can also see I was wrong and that nothing emerges from Soh's mask when she dies. It's the attack of the Seethe's that causes that darkness,)

For rewards: Otherworldly Venture: rewards and thoughts.

A look at the Otherworldly Venture Drop Box.

They drop from tough enemies and Kagokaburi. They make a cute little giggling sound, too!

A yellow orb? It looks like a corrupted oyster. A pearl...

More on the DLC here:

Venturing in...(A million in Otherworldly Venture and some tips)

Otherworldly Venture: rewards and thoughts.

Soh's face: Maskless Soh.

A comparison between menu renders. Her outfit colors look different but they aren't. The colors change in lighting.

I decided to do a playthrough with no mask, to obtain scene footage.

Unfortunately it's a bit awkward as there's rarely 'expressions' on her face. A permanent ':3' smile is on her face, which is lovely, but her eyes are dull and her face never changes. Her eyes don't focus on anything.

Even a stoic person has subtle expressions.

Her face is basically a different mask put on her model.

To better visually explain the issue with her eyes, look at Yoshiro's in comparison to Soh's.

There is a constant light reflected in Yoshiro's eyes and upon her face, illuminating her at all times. It prevents unflattering shots like Soh's face in the True Ending and this:

Bad lighting, dead eyes

No lighting

In the normal ending, she's fully lluminated:

Her eyes shine here.

Games sometimes have many models for a character. Yoshiro also has this kind of 'blank' model, usually on the field:

Her eyes are lighter here with little depth

No light

The 'blank' face again

If you've played Kingdom Hearts, it's cut-scene faces vs outside cut-scene faces. (Games like Final Fantasy X and X-2 also had these kinds of 'blank' models and then higher resolution models for cut-scenes. It's to optimize the game.)

I would've liked a better quality face during cut-scenes but that might've been too much extra work?

Soh with her mask on has more reactions because you have to pay attention to her body language only. Without her mask, you instinctively look to her face for how she's feeling or thinking and there's nothing there.

Very doll-like when she moves her head around...

But she's beautiful!!

I thought her make-up had been changed to resemble Yoshiro's, since her lips are bright red in the rewards menu but it isn't.

Red lips

Her eye-shadow appears to be a purple/lilac on the lid and soft red with subtle brown undertones on the bottom and up to the browbone.

 

I love her ':3' lips

The red undertones in her make up come out

The make-up of the two is well-done with some thought put into it. Yoshiro has Marilyn Monroe's eyelid trick of putting the peak of a cat-eye upon the lid, giving a seductive sleepy look when the eyes droop. Soh's make up emphasizes her upturned eyes, pulling them further up. A very strong gaze.

The peak is on her lid, giving her a seductive look

It reminds me of how much thought was put into Bayonetta's make-up. Also extremely beautiful...(the benefits of having women on the team?)

(Although this Soh is entirely her own character. That is, when I joke I'm Soh, I don't mean her...I mean the masked one...)

I prefer her masked version only because the best thing is that behind the mask is a beautiful woman. You just don't get to see her all the time. When you do, it's a lovely surprise.

Lillies...

Otherworldly Venture: rewards and thoughts.

After playing for a few hours, I obtained the Otherworldly Venture's rewards.

The first two difficulties, Easy and Normal, are fine. You play up to a certain wave and need to obtain enough points during to unlock the reward. (Or it unlocks automatically?)

On Hard, you need to obtain enough points as it's endless.

I enjoyed the first two difficulties but Hard is a bit repetitive. I don't enjoy cycling through the same levels over and over nor do I enjoy fighting the same Festering Seethe only one level later from the previous time I did. 
The Seethe start off difficult and are as hard as later-cycle Seethe. (the small flying ones take two shots to kill instead of one)

I struggled the most with Hard, especially wave 11. The game is strategy but also chance as what items you may pick from is randomized. 
I discovered that it's better to upgrade Villager levels, have talismans that support their vitality and have the Tsuba Guard that engulfs them in a holy aura. Once a villager falls, they are cocooned until the end of the night and there can be many waves in one night, leaving you struggling.
Using the picks that boost damage and lower damage from Seethe are vital. Especially when facing Festering Seethe. The mini-bosses can be devastating, especially in small, enclosed spaces.
(I struggled terribly in Wave 11, fighting Raikobo and a spectre of Cursed Soh. It was only until I used the boosting options that I was able to defeat them.)

Onto the rewards!

• Easy Reward: Outset Costume.

A new outfit for Soh. Too bad it's ugly. I'm not sure how this design managed to get approved...

The colors are pretty.

I like the mask though...

The white nails have debuted!

White nails!

More photos:

Short hair! Cursed Soh's long hair is because of Yoshiro.

Since Soh's outfits are related to lore, what is the lore behind this? Has Soh become corrupted from venturing into the Otherworld?

This design on her arm is seen here, on the concept art for the Spirit Stone:

Original design for the Spirit Stone

So now we have another link between Soh and the Spirit Stone?

Those symbols also appear on her outfit. (I also updated the symbols post with image from the artbook)

Both symbols

It's called 'Outset' which means the beginning or start of something. Could this have been the very first Soh's outfit? Or perhaps this was the first design for Soh?

Normal Reward: No Mask(Original Costume)

I thought they changed her make-up(she has red lips here)

No mask!!

I couldn't believe it! I had my suspicions a maskless model had been created for her and here she is!

Unfortunately, she doesn't emote and her bangs don't move. Her face isn't lit up like Yoshiro's.

See how there's a light on Yoshiro, brightening up her face? Her eyes are also reflecting a light.

No such thing with Soh...her face is very blank, which makes scenes feel awkward.

Her face, as I suspected, is totally different to Yoshiro.

What a beauty!

(Before I played the DLC, I was working on a mazo talisman post that I planned to publish after I wrote about the DLC and in it, I mentioned their faces are not similar at all, actually. Nice to see I was correct. The reason we think they look similar is because they have the same hair color and eye color and are very beautiful. They are also the only faces we see.)

Hard Reward: Outlet(No Mask)

No-mask version for this outfit. Very disappointing...

I had high hopes. Something for Yoshiro. Maybe something related to Cursed Soh...

No extra lore. (Yet?)