moogy
Stages are trash and it's lacking in QoL to say the least, but the rawness of the RNG-heavy danmaku makes it surprisingly fun to play (as long as you're not particularly invested in any given run). Also great for honing your basic danmaku skills.
2005
Neat plot and immersive design. Very different from Falcom's other recent games but not in a bad way.
Danmaku is mostly unfun, probably more interesting as a score game than a survival one. Huge step forward for the series in terms of aesthetics, though, and I can't hate the game that gave us Yukari.
Probably my least favorite of the Windows Touhou games. Patterns are mostly boring and while it has a lot of content not very much of it is actually good (the last words in particular are mostly just annoying gimmicks). As a survival player, the most fun I've had with this is grinding Asteroid Belt.
I don't normally like "gimmick" danmaku games, but the item system in this one is cool and allows for much more individualized play than the camera games imo. Everything being doable without using items is also a plus.
The only things wrong with this game are Yamame's first pattern, the second half of stage 2, Satori's Yukari cards, and the stage portion of stage 6. Which might seem like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, this is a kamige.
Well, the main game is, anyway. I actually find the Koishi fight in Extra to be possibly the least fun thing ZUN has ever made, but I don't really care about Extra.
Well, the main game is, anyway. I actually find the Koishi fight in Extra to be possibly the least fun thing ZUN has ever made, but I don't really care about Extra.
Haven't played this enough to give it a rating yet. Ichirin's boss theme is one of the most underrated songs in Touhou imo.
Release system is stupidly broken and there are lots of weird/overly hard patterns that drag the game down. But I think it actually has a lot of neat stuff if you can get past that; the stage design in particular is pretty tight, IMO. Definitely not a bad game.
Generally solid game, nothing really sticks out but nothing is really wrong with it either (except some visibility issues here and there). Not being able to avoid interfacing with the hyper system is a bit annoying when going for bombless runs, but otherwise I think it's a much better take on that sort of system than trances in 13 or the release system in 16 (and everything is perfectly doable without hypers except maybe the penultimate pattern). Also has one of the best soundtracks; every song from stage 4 on is impeccable.
Feels like a janky clone of Ys and not like Ys itself. At least Remilia is cute.
2019
It's all right. While it represents a step up in ambition for Ladybug, it's still very linear and somewhat lacking in horizontal progression; the game doesn't really feel expansive in a way that the greats of the genre do. If nothing else, the graphics are gorgeous.
Honestly a pretty janky game, with an almost inverted difficulty curve (lol Kagerou) and horrifically imbalanced shot types, but I love it anyway. The PoC-based score system is my favorite in Touhou, adding a ton of fun considerations to routing without getting in the way of pure survival runs either.
Has the best title screen music.
Has the best title screen music.
Another one I haven't played enough of on Lunatic to really form a solid opinion of the pattern/stage design of. Trances are very silly though.
Gameplay is weird nonsense but the scenario is actually kami. TenShion for life
2006
Excellent level and boss design, but I got really sick of playing the game by the end since you have go to through it three times for the true ending. Has the best version of Termination.