There's not a lot of difference in the gameplay of Touhou 6-8, and the existing differences ultimately feel a bit inconsequential. One that does make a big change for someone like me who is bad at games, however, is that after EoSD ZUN realized to stop being a dick and quit walling the final stage away on easy mode, so it makes 7 and 8 as a whole a lot more enjoyable I would say. It was some months ago now, but I still well remember being pretty fucking pressed about losing my last continues to Remilia like three times before completing EoSD, and I'm glad I don't have to relive that shit to get a full taste of the story.
Oddly enough though, despite incredible annoyance, EoSD is probably my favorite of these three. Could it be that getting dicked down by EoSD and having to start over many times gave it more room to settle in, and that's why it's my preferred of the three? There's a non-zero chance I suppose, but I'm leaning on no mainly due to my general playstyle in other older games involving plenty of savestating, and I do have some higher rated games that I breezed through in this manner, such as Pulseman.
It must be that the cast and soundtrack are at their apex there in my opinion (the Scarlet Devil Mansion gang is all insane goofballs and I love them). PCB here falls a little short in comparison in these regards, although it does feature Yuyuko and Yukari as great standout characters. Maybe it and Imperishable Night will both need some time to grow, but they're still very solid as is.
Now that I've played the first eight games except the third one, I would definitely recommend to look after these three rather than the PC98 games. The latter are total bullshit to get your hands on to begin with, but they're just not as remarkable anyway. As for which specific one you should play first out of those...maybe this one? This or Imperishable Night, probably. They're much more manageable than previous outings.
Oddly enough though, despite incredible annoyance, EoSD is probably my favorite of these three. Could it be that getting dicked down by EoSD and having to start over many times gave it more room to settle in, and that's why it's my preferred of the three? There's a non-zero chance I suppose, but I'm leaning on no mainly due to my general playstyle in other older games involving plenty of savestating, and I do have some higher rated games that I breezed through in this manner, such as Pulseman.
It must be that the cast and soundtrack are at their apex there in my opinion (the Scarlet Devil Mansion gang is all insane goofballs and I love them). PCB here falls a little short in comparison in these regards, although it does feature Yuyuko and Yukari as great standout characters. Maybe it and Imperishable Night will both need some time to grow, but they're still very solid as is.
Now that I've played the first eight games except the third one, I would definitely recommend to look after these three rather than the PC98 games. The latter are total bullshit to get your hands on to begin with, but they're just not as remarkable anyway. As for which specific one you should play first out of those...maybe this one? This or Imperishable Night, probably. They're much more manageable than previous outings.