Oryu, a serious-looking purple-haired woman in a fancy action dress, seen here from the chest upwards, in profile view, against a background of sand dunes. [Shiren the Wanderer DS2: The Magic Castle of the Desert]

Oryu, backed against a wall, being threatened by the Castle Lord in a rather intense sequence.

Oryu is so flippin' cool in #Shiren DS2.

Berserk status effects are scary. Monsters will attack anyone nearby, and potentially win (even if it does make them forget they have special abilities). On the player, though, it takes away control. Watched my #Shiren thoughtlessly bash through 5 monsters before finally getting slapped down.

Sometimes, the Monster House isn't the threat. It's what happens *after* the Monster House. #Shiren

Shiren the Wanderer - Shiren (a wanderer in a rain hat), Gen (a cat with a missing eye and a rifle), and Okon (a kitsune girl) asleep in a row, in the Tower of the Past.

the current mood and/or friendship goals #shiren

Two pots, named "Füd" and "Âlsø Füd".

You can (generally) name anything that isn't identified in #Shiren, but sometimes you can also arbitrarily name your Preservation Pots.

Don't let me name my Preservation Pots. 🍯

Should at least pay attention to the item hints before I try testing them on monsters. #Shiren #YetAnotherStupidDeath

Probably not a great idea to taste-test random grasses when there's a Death Reaper in the room. #Shiren

Reading a Wall-less Scroll inside a shop turns the entire dungeon floor into a gigantic shop. The shopkeeper then offers to buy all the loot I didn't pick up from the other rooms.

I look at it as him paying me for expanding his store.

#Shiren

Nigiri Morph exhaled onigiri breath. Whoa! [pot] Stayin' Alive [0] turned into Large Onigiri.

Dune of Batsu attempt last night:
- Got tired of dying early in the run, so brought my best stuff. Kabura sword, Fuuma shield, roughly 8 Revival Grasses.
- Stuffed most of the grass in a spare pot to save room, named it "Stayin' Alive"
- On the 12th floor... There goes 5 extra lives!

#Shiren

When you're out of options to deal with suddenly being surrounded, it's time to sacrifice a few HP for the greater good. #Shiren

"Ordinary Pot shattered on its own!" - and its contents included a Steel Severer that was now at -6. So I guessed hella wrong at which pot that was, and it's not one I've identified before. #Shiren

Shiren the Wanderer - Running into a Monster House (really more like a Monster Beach) on Sozoro Bay, 1F of Serpentcoil Island. Several confused Octoplings and one Spearfish are bumbling around. The victim (me) is just sitting near the entrance.

doing some rescue science in #Shiren today:

- start a run on Serpentcoil
- die immediately to a random monster
- begin a self-rescue operation
- encounter a Monster House that was definitely not there before, where my body has been moved.

Shiren the Wanderer - a Mamel Pup that has wandered into my inn room says, "Meow! (Shiren!)"

The random stray monster pups are starting to call me by name. 😳 #Shiren

Do not pass "Go." Do not collect 200 Gitan. #Shiren

A steam achievement for Shiren the Wanderer: Way of Gitau - Took the shop's wares and managed to escape. 48.2% of players have this achievement

Finally had a reason to pull a heist in this game. ...Evidently, me and about half the people who bought the game! #Shiren

Dad just watched me get kettled by a Cave Mamel. Ow. #Shiren

I am not immune to fart noises as a source of humor. I will step on these traps until they quit working. #Shiren

Taking a "sure why not" attempt at the mammoth 99 floor Wanderers' Highway today, and some lucky early gets included very strong shields for me and Asuka, as well as a staff that makes its target gain levels. So Asuka is level 22 on 3F, OHKO'ing everything, and basically nothing can hurt us. #Shiren

I can't even call this "yet another stupid death." I think Yamakagashi Pass just wanted to kill me ASAP. #Shiren

I really thought I had more than one turn to live, here; this ninja acted so fast that I almost had no idea why I lost 42 HP in one missed throw until rolling the footage back a bit. #Shiren

Yet Another Stupid #Shiren Death:

A Curse Girl in a dark hallway, too close for arrows to be worth using. Out of healing items. Tons of unidentified grass, not worth risking.

Threw a Confusion Grass at her; it landed on the floor.
Threw a spent Paralyzing Staff. It also landed on the floor.
Dead.

one thing missing from #Shiren 6, that I miss from Tower of Fortune, is that your followers can appear in the little areas between dungeons to say a thing or two. Kinda sucks that Asuka and Hibiki (et al) just vanish when you reach Small Harbor, instead of finding them at the tavern or whatever.

The Narrow-Escape Staff (formerly the Transient Staff) warps its target to the floor exit and paralyzes them. If you're currently on a floor with a fallen wanderer, the wanderer is considered the exit instead. #Shiren

another short #Shiren rescue tale: this client was downed on the 4th floor of the Dune of Batsu, a late-game story dungeon that requires you to have cleared Serpentcoil Island at least twice (among other things). Another Monster House, I figured. Seems like a running theme.

trying some more #Shiren rescues today on the extra dungeons. Someone collapsed on the 4th floor of Peach Dungeon. Yup. Monster House, and their body is right at the back.

With only 3 prior floors to prepare, I had a pack full of unidentified grass, staves, and scrolls.

You can pet the mischievous riceball-transforming monster pup in #Shiren.

Those last few rescues have taught me a few things about fighting battles of attrition in crowded rooms. #Shiren

(Maybe I should buy "Fights in Tight Spaces" next?)

Shiren the Wanderer - My party is currently composed of Porky the Pirate (a humanoid pig that throws rocks, top left), Kawasaku (an archaeologist who does not fight, top right), and Hibiki (a pirate quartermaster who makes use of various pills, lower left).

Rufus Shinra, shrugging: "What a crew." Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation) - Cloud's party, consisting of Tifa (a bartender), Red XIII (a lion-like "specimen"), Aerith (a flower girl from the slums), and Barret (a hulk of a man with a machine-gun for an arm).

What a crew. #Shiren

Shiren cleared Serpentcoil Island! Play time: 1:01:13 Turns: 5778 Monsters Beaten: 235 Lv: 30 Weapon Strength: 19 Shield Strength: 17 Strength: 1/10 Gitan: 1,658 HP: 104/145 Equipment: Manji Kabura+5 (plated), Fuuma Shield+4 (plated), Focusing Bracelet

First clear! #Shiren

And then of course the game (through Koppa) tells me that the true Mystery Dungeon starts here. 😆

A suspiciously easy-looking rescue on #Shiren 6's rescue board today. The client reached 10F, only about a third of the way to the summit of Serpentcoil proper, and not even in any of the alternate routes.

I find the client at the very back of a packed 6x5 Monster House with only one entrance.