the game is really really good

awesomesauce stuff:

-good character writing
-good writing
-very fun gameplay
-all of the characters are super unique both gameplay-wise and character-wise. it makes the game feel very fresh through all routes
-most of the characters have, at the least, a viable offensive game. it's fun learning to play against all of the different characters as they do really all have completely different offensive styles.
-has the first stinky touhou character

less awesomesauce stuff:

-netcode isn't good
-several characters are very knowledge checky and are difficult to play against (on lunatic especially) without a fair amount of practice against them. this is pretty normal for shmups but it's like, very disproportionately applied to some characters over others.
-adding onto this, some of the primary disadvantages of certain characters are completely absent in the story mode (as the ai can autododge), making orin and the yakuza matriarchs very strong when fighting against them while making them kinda awkward to play as.
-characters in story mode can use their extra and boss attacks at a far higher rate than they can in VS. while this isn't a massive deal for most characters, it makes the already strong chiyari into a very very frustrating character.
-nazrin

while the negative section may be larger than my positive section, this is only really because the positives are too broad and numerous to realistically write down. it's an incredibly fun game and it already is looking to have some of my favorite characters. the only thing i can really say is to be unafraid to reduce the difficulty at some points if you're feeling frustrated with a select few characters

the game is really really good awesomesauce stuff: -good character writing -good writing -very fun gameplay -all of the characters are super unique both gameplay-wise and character-wise. it makes the game feel very fresh through all routes -most of the characters have, at the least, a viable offensive game. it's fun learning to play against all of the different characters as they do really all have completely different offensive styles. -has the first stinky touhou character less awesomesauce stuff: -netcode isn't good -several characters are very knowledge checky and are difficult to play against (on lunatic especially) without a fair amount of practice against them. this is pretty normal for shmups but it's like, very disproportionately applied to some characters over others. -adding onto this, some of the primary disadvantages of certain characters are completely absent in the story mode (as the ai can autododge), making orin and the yakuza matriarchs very strong when fighting against them while making them kinda awkward to play as. -characters in story mode can use their extra and boss attacks at a far higher rate than they can in VS. while this isn't a massive deal for most characters, it makes the already strong chiyari into a very very frustrating character. -nazrin while the negative section may be larger than my positive section, this is only really because the positives are too broad and numerous to realistically write down. it's an incredibly fun game and it already is looking to have some of my favorite characters. the only thing i can really say is to be unafraid to reduce the difficulty at some points if you're feeling frustrated with a select few characters