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Spoilers within, obviously.

So Touhou 20 just came out and as I always do for a new Touhou game, I jump right in on normal difficulty (even though I'm well above a normal difficulty player) to have a nice, casual experience that lets me focus on the game as a whole and learn the system/gimmicks rather than having to go full focus on patterns, dodging and resource management.

Touhou 20 got half of this equation - this is a tough game in terms of pattern difficulty, but I still cleared fairly easily on the back of my dodging ability. Normal mode shouldn't be pushing me this much... I had a good time with my first hour, though!

Some quick first impressions so I have those written down somewhere:
I don't really understand the trigger for wonder stones or hypers, they just kind of seemed to happen.
Lots of stage sections seemed to require a good approach to make it through, especially Stage 4 end and Stage 5.
I don't like the stage 2 boss very much.
Toyohime showing up in Stage 5 was a massive shock, I saw the dialogue portrait show up and thought "huh, that design looks familiar, is this new?" and then the name popped up and I literally yelled "WHAT" and had to pause for a moment to collect myself. Toyohime nons are terrifying, and that's a phrase that makes perfect sense and I never thought I'd say.
Lots of shot type options to keep playing through but I think I'll hold on that a bit until there's a translation out.
Looks like there's an unlock system that will require 3 clears with each main stone for 24 clears to have free choice, not sure I like that. I liked the UM card unlocks since it pushed you into trying new things, but here it's just a grind. I'll do it, but I probably won't be happy about it for the required extra run beyond a Reimu and Marisa clear with each.

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