izigame.me

My review is positive, but my feelings are mixed.
If you are choosing a Genso Wanderer title to try first, do not pick this one.
Sadly, for those expecting a true sequel to GWR after LLR's deviation from the usual gameplay, GWF isn't fully the same.
The game felt a lot shorter than GWR and even LLR, even when doing all optional dungeons.
As someone with hundreds of hours in GWR and LLR on the Nintendo Switch,
Here was my experience with GWF so far:
Abbreviation key for context:




-Soundtrack
The covers are high-quality, though some are re-used from other TGW titles.
However, a good soundtrack is usually a given for Touhou Project games.
-Art
Many characters have new art to represent them, both during conversations and during gameplay.
Adding to the latter, there are also new animations.
However, cut-in art is mostly absent. While past titles had art for almost every character's special ability or interaction, GWF only has cut-ins for certain important characters.
-Gameplay
The game is closer to GWR than LLR, with differences. This is a positive for me, but it's still subjective.
I preferred the style of having one player and one partner NPC.
-Death
In GWR, you were forced out of the dungeon losing all yen upon death (Unless you closed the game and re-entered to retry the floor). In LLR, you could retry the floor directly from the menu. Some dungeons had a challenge of no restarts, but it could be bypassed through the aforementioned method for GWR.
However, GWF has no consequences. You will not lose yen, and the items that you have used on the floor will return. Not only could you perform the method from past games, but in main story dungeons, death meant nothing due to being able to teleport to checkpoints, including the rooms of bosses that had not been defeated.
-Materials
Materials do not exist in GWF.
Thankfully, unlike LLR, you did not have to use materials to individually increase characters' level cap, or damage cap.
Sadly, unlike GWR, you cannot use materials to create equipment and consumables.
-Equipment
Equipment is at its most basic here.
Unlike past titles, you cannot level your equipment up, and as a result, equipment evolution is not in the game. I miss finding an item and wondering what it would become. I still remember the first time the lawn-mowing scythe evolved into Komachi's scythe, before evolving further into a laser scythe... before turning into a dual laser and steel scythe that had a miniature Komachi on top. Almost every weapon and armor would get a new sprite at a higher level, but now, not only is that not possible, the variety of individual equipment feels smaller. Along with that, there does not seem to be a meld equivalent, or a way to use another equipment to overwrite the appearance of what's currently in use.
-Playable Characters
Compared to GWR's 19-character cast, or the dozens available in LLR, GWF has the lowest amount. Not only that, but the variety is very low, only having main protagonists featured, and only Reimu is directly playable. Yes, what you see in the preview is what you get in the game.
Oh, and there is no page to see the VAs of characters at the moment.
-Enemies
While I appreciate regular enemies such as fairies, kedama and phantoms and more, and how named characters still appear, there is sadly no longer a bestiary to view them in. And unfortunately, the rank suffixes for common enemies do not have unique palettes unlike for named characters. The variety per dungeon is also a lot smaller.
-Bosses
Due to most of GWF's story re-treading old Touhou Project titles from two decades ago, the boss variety is not very high.
Remilia Scarlet, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Kaguya Houraisan, you get the idea.
You will fight Okina Matara again, but you could already tell from the intro.
We unfortunately don't have another Great Moriya Angel, or Dir Grenze for the final boss.
Heck, I'd even take the last one for originality, even with game-crashing black hole.
They didn't even bother to make unique forms, such as Buyking Rinnosuke/ Awaritia Shinentai, Devil Treant Flandre, Corrupted Akyuu/ Kosuzu, etc. for most of the bosses.
The only bosses that would fit the criteria are near and at the end of the game, but it would be a spoiler to mention.
-Levels
The levels are permanent, except for in empty-handed dungeons. Along with this, there is the link system to increase stats. The empty-handed dungeons were more enjoyable for me.
Personally, I prefer starting at level one at the start of dungeon over the much slower permanent levelling and link system grinding.
As a result of this new level system, during the latter half of the game, in most side quests you will always find high-ranking enemies with suffixes such as -dono and -sama in very early floors of the dungeon, and may be a difficulty spike.
There is way too much grinding in the latter half of the game, and you will not feel the same rewarding feeling as getting a powerful equipment in GWR.
The closest this game ever gets to feeling like an old title are the empty-handed dungeons.
-Translation
It's a lot rougher than in the previous games. For example, Reimu's "Instant Sacred Field Talisman" was "Ready-Made Meal Ticket" on day one. Compared to what felt like professional translations in past titles, this one feels more rushed. This is most apparent in certain consumable, equipment, and effect descriptions. However, even with the translation issue, some conversations still have the same humor and charm from past titles.
Well, my review is long enough.
GWF is okay for an early access title... What?! It is full release?!
The game is not downright bad on its own, but in the current state, it does not meet the expectations of the fans of past titles. It simply does not live up to GWR, and feels rushed at points. I would not mind having waited a year or more longer before release if it would have negated the issue.
I hope that this will continue to be updated with more content and fixes.
Or, I'll simply wait for three years for the next title, hoping for it to be a successor to GWR.
If there is one...
Thank you for reading.