PDP Shard of Dreams Guide Part 1: Beginning to First Inn

Hello, and welcome to my new guide for the Touhou Puppet Dance Performance expansion: Shard of Dreams.

I'm going to assume that a lot of this is going to be similar, but just in case, I'm rewriting the entire guide. Fun.

As with when I first wrote the original guide, there were no English translations for this game at this time, and I do not know Japanese so this first run through will be rather rough.

Also, I am going to assume that you have already played the original game and/or have read up on the basic mechanics already.
If it helps, here is a guide to some of the mechanics that I wrote about the original game. And here is the first section of the original guide, where towards the bottom of the page I highlight the uses of PP and IVs.

As far as resources go for playing the game despite Japanese language, please utilize the TPDP wiki. Match up the Japanese characters to the ones for each skills/item/etc to figure out what it is that you're looking at.

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So, as before, you start off talking to...someone. There's a Yes/No box that pops up. As far as I can tell, this is where you can choose to import your original save. If you say Yes, you will find yourself in the Dream World with Doremy Sweet. From what I understand, selecting to import the save means that later in the game you will be able to import your old Puppets (no held items though) into your boxes, and you can select your Starter again with the same EVs. You will not have these options if you choose not to import.

You'll find yourself in front of the shrine, with people meandering about. As with before, you need to speak with all the NPCs in this area, making sure not to miss Sumireko who is sleeping on a bench to the left. Then head to the man with glasses to choose your starter. He appears to automatically assume you want the same starter as you had in the original game, so just say No if you want to select a new one. All the same Puppets are available along with the new Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom characters and Sumireko.

Please be aware that if you choose to use the same starter as you used before (if you imported), it will also import the EVs, while if you do not select the same starter, you will have all S in all stats. So choose wisely.

This time around, I'll be using Shou.

Once you're done here, head right past him and up until you see a Yukari puppet. As with before, if you do not see a Yukari before you get to the grass, then you missed an NPC at the shrine and need to go back. Follow that Yukari! When you get to the end, go down the set of stairs on the right (the one with sand instead of grass), to be warped to Gensokyo!

Head up the steps to the grass to encounter your starter and Marisa. Marisa will lend you her Puppet to fight it. Get it down to low HP to have it love you and follow you around. You can nickname your new Puppet if you like, I'm going to at least so my Puppet's name is in English.

Marisa will bring you to Hakurei Shrine. She'll bring you into a room in the Shrine and you'll talk to both her and Sanae. Reimu will also pop in and kick you all out of her house. Once you're allowed to move, talk to Marisa to fight her. It really depends on your starter whether she'll give you any trouble or not, but don't worry about it because it actually doesn't matter who wins the fight.

The little building to the left of the Shrine has a healing spot and an Akyuu box inside (first door, the second door is inaccessible at this time). Behind the Shrine there is a well. Talk to the pot right near it to pick up an item which, if this is anything like the original, should be a Hakurei Shinshu. Head to the right of the Shrine and up to the little outbuilding and pick up the Yin Yang Orb containing a Blinding Orb (this item allows you to escape from wild Puppet battles guaranteed).

Once you're done, head down and leave the shrine. Sanae will stop you and give you 10 Seal Threads, which, as before, can be used to capture Puppets. Continue down into the first route, where you'll find the grass. Here, you can capture Nazrin, Lily White, Daiyousei, Chen, and Sukuna (rare). You should also level up for a bit here. I recommend staying here until you catch a Sukuna or until you hit level 10. Whichever comes first. Remember that you can always return to the Shrine to heal.

When you are ready, continue to the left of the grass. Head down the steps and pick up the Yin Yang Orb containing a Fuji Rice Cookie. Next to that, to the left, is a little silver statue thing (Jizou statue?)that was non-interactable in the original game. But you can talk to it now. Answer yes to the thing and something happens. I don't know what. I have a hunch that we should talk to these whenever we see them though, so we're going to.

Continue along and fight the man with a level 3 Nazrin. Down past him is some more grass. If you go down through it you can pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing another Fuji Rice Cookie. Go back up and the left and fight the girl with a level 3 Lily White. Past her is the first Inn in the game. Inside, you can heal by talking to the lady in blue at the counter (the one next to the Akyuu box. The woman to her left sells healing items:
Fuji Rice Cookie - 300
Rice Dumpling - 500
Paste of the Fog - 700
Myouren Tea - 600

To the left is a man who also sells items. He sells Rosary Beads for 100 and Seal Thread for 200.

Before you can actually buy anything though, you need money. Which means you need to sell stuff. When you go into the Sell window (second talk option), only sell things from the red bag, which is basically your etc. bag. Everything in here is safe to sell with one exception.
Do not sell the item 魔力の結晶  . These are Magical Fragments and you'll need them end-game. Everything else in the etc/red bag is safe to sell for now.

Heading back outside the Inn, there's a pot next to the building that if you interact with it will give you yet another Fuji Rice Cookie. If you interact with the barrel next to it, a wild Seija will appear for you to capture if you like. Below the Inn is a patch of grass. If your starter is not level 10 yet, then I highly recommend leveling it up here. This time, I say for sure do not leave this spot until you have seen a Sukuna because you will need those levels soon, and in this game it is far better to be overleveled than just right.

Okay, so that is it for part 1! Part 2 can be found here!