defcon
I really enjoyed playing all the different characters in this one. The team mechanic is neat, and while it took me forever (and a trip to the wiki) to realize how the Human/Youkai meter worked, it helped a lot once I knew how to play around it. Also, the way continues and time’s passage works in this game is absolutely aces. Really cool design choice IMO.
Looking forward to trying for the 1CC someday!
Looking forward to trying for the 1CC someday!
I started my Touhou journey with 6, The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. I didn’t clear it for 3.5 weeks. Picked up Touhou 7 right after, then... cleared it the same day???
This one’s wayyy more forgiving. Especially for someone like me, who just wants to see the ending on Normal difficulty with continues. The Barrier system is super clutch if you’re more interested in surviving than maximizing your score, and my main maid Sakuya’s first shot pattern makes the experience a cruise compared to Touhou 6.
Damn that final battle was exhilarating though.
This one’s wayyy more forgiving. Especially for someone like me, who just wants to see the ending on Normal difficulty with continues. The Barrier system is super clutch if you’re more interested in surviving than maximizing your score, and my main maid Sakuya’s first shot pattern makes the experience a cruise compared to Touhou 6.
Damn that final battle was exhilarating though.
First Touhou game I beat (on Normal, using 2 continues). Feels REAL GOOD. Can’t wait to come back sometime and go for the 1CC and Hard difficulty. What a romp! I’ll freeze you with some English beef!
2023
The way I am magnetized to this game is indescribable. There is a surface, and then there is more, and then there is even more. It just keeps giving.
At every level, its presentation is excellent and not just in the classic videogames way — look at the screenshots, the graphics are cute; listen to the music, the soundtrack is excellent. More than that, this game is surprising in a way that I’m constantly marveling at. There is clever showmanship in its very execution that I hope anyone with the patience to give this the time it warrants can appreciate.
Over time, I have felt more and more like a master of the Void. The mechanics haven’t shifted. I have. You should too!
At every level, its presentation is excellent and not just in the classic videogames way — look at the screenshots, the graphics are cute; listen to the music, the soundtrack is excellent. More than that, this game is surprising in a way that I’m constantly marveling at. There is clever showmanship in its very execution that I hope anyone with the patience to give this the time it warrants can appreciate.
Over time, I have felt more and more like a master of the Void. The mechanics haven’t shifted. I have. You should too!
pleased to say BWRP Heaven mode was my Baby’s First 1CC. a liiiittle more motivated to try 1CCing the normal difficulty next instead of finishing Heaven without the Guard feature.
2000
it’s like if you watched End of Evangelion with zero context, except it’s a game and it fuckin’ rules from start to end to start immediately again. extraordinary is the word for it. extraordinary
This review contains spoilers
the first like, 3-6 hours of this game are the best by far. i LOVED what the demo had to show. beautiful visuals, i wish more "HD 2D" and remasters of RPGs from this era looked like this. and such great music throughout, too.
but before too long, my enjoyment slowly and steadily declined. there were super sudden difficulty spikes, and the difficulty selection felt totally irrelevant in the endgame. i knocked myself down from the hardest to the easiest close to the end of the game and it felt as if nothing changed. i'm sad to say that i am not motivated to do another run with new party members whatsoever.... how disappointing!!
venting a bit: the characterization and motivations for almost everyone in my party felt very flimsy, having no antagonist for the first two thirds of the game felt wack, and then the coterie of goobers they introduce (who we then summarily execute one after the other with very little fanfare) were not very interesting and each had basically no characterization whatsoever. even the biggest of the bads’ backstory was sequestered away as side content. i just don’t think that mainlining a JRPG should leave players feeling so hollow.
as for combat, it felt so much fun when it was just Claude and Rena, but adding more party members cluttered up the game and made it feel unrewarding to try and engage with the parry system. wish it were more enjoyable to control casters, as well. (or to manage them — no way to back out of a spell or interrupt yourself, no way to see what the AI is in the middle of casting until it comes out... these UI failures made it feel like my own team was leaving me in the dark often!) also, pro tip, simply walking up & down is so OP in this game. better defense than anything else.
i was excited to play a relatively short JRPG, especially one i had seen discussed as a classic for so long! but i wasn’t counting on finishing it nearly out of spite.
but before too long, my enjoyment slowly and steadily declined. there were super sudden difficulty spikes, and the difficulty selection felt totally irrelevant in the endgame. i knocked myself down from the hardest to the easiest close to the end of the game and it felt as if nothing changed. i'm sad to say that i am not motivated to do another run with new party members whatsoever.... how disappointing!!
venting a bit: the characterization and motivations for almost everyone in my party felt very flimsy, having no antagonist for the first two thirds of the game felt wack, and then the coterie of goobers they introduce (who we then summarily execute one after the other with very little fanfare) were not very interesting and each had basically no characterization whatsoever. even the biggest of the bads’ backstory was sequestered away as side content. i just don’t think that mainlining a JRPG should leave players feeling so hollow.
as for combat, it felt so much fun when it was just Claude and Rena, but adding more party members cluttered up the game and made it feel unrewarding to try and engage with the parry system. wish it were more enjoyable to control casters, as well. (or to manage them — no way to back out of a spell or interrupt yourself, no way to see what the AI is in the middle of casting until it comes out... these UI failures made it feel like my own team was leaving me in the dark often!) also, pro tip, simply walking up & down is so OP in this game. better defense than anything else.
i was excited to play a relatively short JRPG, especially one i had seen discussed as a classic for so long! but i wasn’t counting on finishing it nearly out of spite.