Art of Fighting (Genesis)

I consider martial art as knowledge of fighting rather than art. I'm brute like that. Maybe by playing SNK's Art of Fighting (1994) on Sega Genesis, my mind will changes into wiser and softer. 

The title reminds me of Fatal Fury because 1) The font style 2) The font color 3) SNK develop this. The most part that i love is the explosive part on "of" word. So what's the reason behind me Art of Fighting people on my way? I don't want to kick someone innocence for some reason.    

 

The protagonist's sister is kidnapped. How dare you to steal the premise of Mug Smasher, SNK! I kind of confused with Yuri being blonde instead of brunette like we all know today. Actually it's reasonable as Ryo himself is blonde, now that i think about it. I have theory that Yuri Sakazaki becomes playable because inspired by Sakura Kasugano from Street Fighter Alpha series. Speaking of SFA, did you know that Dan Hibiki from the series is parody of our protagonists here: Ryo and Robert Garcia who are based on Ryu and Ken Master from Street Fighter? The more you know! I'm fine with game company make homage each other on their creativity. Like for example: Koei Tecmo made Nioh which is homage of From Software's Dark Soul. Later From Software adapts Nioh's combat system and put it in Sekiro, replacing stamina with posture and player or enemy are susceptible when their stamina/posture depleted. Oh sorry! I was digressing for awhile.   

 

I pick Ryo because i'm uncreative just that. He asks Ryuhaku Todoh whereabouts his sister and he get rather annoying reply even Ultron in Avengers game has better (and more entertaining) reply than you. Asking a question only requires speech preferably with polite manner to make other feels like to reply you in the nicest way, good sir. But no, you choose violence for no reason other to prove that you're bona fide martial artist. Fine! First fight ensues, that is!

 

I believe you know the basic control that Street Fighter 2 has taught as all. Pressing left or right d-pad to move fighter forward or backward. Holding the opposite direction of your facing while enemy attacks, to block them. Press up/up+left/up+right to jump. Press down to crouch. Pressing "A" button to punch. Pressing "B" button to kick. Pressing "C" button to initiate heavy attack, which is special to Art of Fighting as well as taunt which is activated by pressing "X" button. Can i do jump kick? Of course, i can. But it's sluggish. Quite often, i pull out my foot in the air too late that Ryuhaku keep winning in jumping kick contest. Not a good starter here.   

 

This is more like it! Ryo as one of Shoto-clone can unleash dragon punch move, obviously. As far as i know, Ryuhaku can't do that so i have quite advantage there. There's a gist on executing special move though. Everytime i unleash a special move, spirit bar (which is located below life bar) will be depleted in varies amount depends on special move i unleash. The more powerful the move, the bigger cost on spirit bar. I notice that "No Smoking" sign on fence. Good! It's fundamental in Martial Art to keep yourself in healthy and smoking is certainly no go.

 

Damnit, old man! You can tell that sooner without any violence act. We can talk peacefully with cup of tea. Instead, i have to go through tedious first fight with you. No one is the winner! 

 

In between fight, there's intermission where Ryo go to next stage with his sporty motorbike. I never see Ryu riding motorbike so i give Ryo credit where it dues.    

 

Jack here annoyed that i'm considered rude because i ask a question without saying "please". Well, listen you insolent schmuck! Showing your guts around and not wearing proper cloth are certainly more rude than adding "please" word when asking. He punches hard but he's just mere thug while i'm legit Shoto clone that can unleash energy ball from my hand. Compare to Ryuhaku (that can also unleash projectile), this scrub is easy.

 

Don't ever think about hurting Chireiden, erm i mean children. Old punk! He said that he saw Yuri in Chinatown. So off we go there!

 

But before that i get to do bonus stage! I can choose between chopping beer bottles to help those drunkards at bar get more drink get more spirit, breaking ice block to get more strength, or special training to expand my moveset. Increasing my attacking power seems good deal so i go with breaking ice block! By the way, is it just me or those hand should belong to Geese Howard and not Ryo?

 

And he looks like Geese Howard to me. Anyway, the bonus stage mechanic is like bonus stage in first Mortal Kombat and easy to understand unlike in first Street Fighter. Mash the buttons to increase the power gauge within allotted time. Reach the maximum power and you will get more strength. By strength, the game means life bar and not attacking power. I'm tricked! 

 

In Chinatown, i meet this masked freak. His main move is spinning toward me while brandishing his claw. He sure ain't Vega but he deal large amount of chip damage (which is term for decreased damage inflicted when the opponent is blocking). Scout_jeers09.wav 

 

Take this kick move! I admit i'm not Ryo fans to know the name of this flying kick move that when connected Ryo follow it up with another strong kick. The move is powerful but i complaint inconsistency of input command for it. In this game and Capcom vs SNK, it's executed by holding diagonal down and back then forward+kick button. This kind of input command is perfect to make swift retaliation as holding down button also act as blocking.  In some King of Fighter series, it's executed by half circle forward motion + kick button. But this complaint probably because of me accustomed with Ryu's Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku input. After defeated, the masked freak says that bouncer of L'amor restaurant probably know about Yuri.

 

Ok. That's not nice of you, Ryo! King greets you politely and you just tell her to get away harshly! In case you wonder, yes. King is the bouncer that guy talked about.

 

I think King also Shoto clone but her main moves using kick instead of hand. But it seems she forget her anti air move so i like to drop jump kick on her unless when she's higher than me. I don't think the a.i. know how to throw so i can freely grab them and deliver some hefty damage. The input for throw is simple: forward + "C" button when near enemy, like very near that you can see their eyelashes clearly.    

 

For next stage i choose the special training. Oh goodness! What a complicated input right there. For other character in King of Fighters series, forward and then half circle forward executes super move! I have to execute this Haou-Ken 8 times within 15 seconds. Sounds fair but the timing is really tight there because Ryo pauses for awhile before unleashing the bigger "Hadou-ken". Combine that with complex input, i can't do it in time!

 

I do very well in chopping the beer bottles. The power bar moves right or left and you need to press "A" button when the power goes maximum. Accomplishing this bonus stage, earns me more spirit bar but jokes on game i still rely on jumping kick.

 

King told me that Yuri is in Military base and only Mickey can infiltrates it. Besides military staffs, you see. Soon Mickey suspects me as spy. Do i look like masked French that carries butterfly knife around? Oh, wait! He can disguise as anyone, nevermind.

 

Remember when i said that i rely on jumping kick? Yes, i do. Mickey here can shoots projectile straight or low but he doesn't have anti air move. He's like Sagat but doesn't have Tiger Uppercut move. Lame!

After defeated, Mickey obliges to help me. Why everyone in South Town only willing to help Ryo after he beats them black and blue. Does no one here civilized enough to discuss like gentlemen? At least King is civilized and polite. But the rest are just scum that doesn't understand common social communication. Humans are social creature behave like one, insolent fools!

 

Did i mention that i rely on jumping kick. Oh, i said that before. On intermission Ryo mutters to himself that he need Haou-Ken to defeat someone with weapon. I thought he will defeat every armed soldiers on premise but no. He just need to defeat this not-Guile guy and jumping kick works just fine. Joke on him!

 

For the last bonus stage i re-pick the special training and finally i manage to break the training dummy with Haou-Ken(s). My reward is obviously the move itself. It's better reward than increasing life or spirit bar but it's the most difficult to get.

 

My next opponent is this bald guy with Kali Sticks. I read walkthrough a bit and turns out his name is Mr. Big. What something big on him? I'm guessing his difficulty is big! I can beat everyone just fine but not guy with two pieces of stick apparently. To be fair, Ryuhaku is the 2nd most difficult before this guy. His sticks deal really serious damage for some reason. Maybe they're powered by Raiden, the Thunder God from Mortal Kombat. He also learn the charging move from the Thunder God, apparently.

 

My main problem with this guy is: he can swiftly thrust his sticks upward thus he can counter my jumping kick easily. Eventually i can defeat him though. I can duck safely under his charging move and then i can close enough to grab him. The "hadou-ken" move seem ineffective here because he can also throw energy projectile and he can stabs away my projectile with his stick. I almost give up here.   

 

Mr. Big points me about strong fighter in this karate dojo that keep Yuri. I know him. He's Mr. Karate alias Takuma Sakazaki, Ryo's and Yuri's father. Let's fight anyway!

 

Mr. Karate has same moveset as Ryo. So he's substantially easier than Mr. Big. It's kind of underwhelming to have him as Final Boss but i'm saved from the SNK's traditional cheap overpowered boss. So i can't complaint.

 

Reading a walkthrough, i learn that i can recharge my spirit bar by holding either punch or kick button. It's helpful because Haou ken depletes my spirit bar in instant but it's worth it because it decreases half of enemy's life bar if connected. There's also taunt that can decreases your opponent's spirit bar if you feel like being unsportive git.

 

...father. Case closed.

As far as i know, this is the only ending you get regardless character or difficulty you pick. I'm guessing Takumi kidnapped his own daughter to lure Ryo and Garcia into his fighting test. It's supposed to be subtle but it's easily predictable. At least put more effort into your disguise, Mr. Takuma. Put Tyrannosaur custom or something!  

 

Spy_no02.wav. It ends here!

SNK's Art of Fighting (1994) is one of Street Fighter 2 clone. The single player mode isn't entirely the same though. You can only pick Ryo or Robert and there's bonus stages that can upgrade your character if succeed. The gameplay is sluggish and relatively aggravating thanks to relatively slow movement of characters. It's really baffling to me that projectile can be negated with punching it. That feature supposed to balance the fight between projectile thrower and non-projectile thrower but it's bad nonetheless. It's hard for me to win jumping kick duel. Even if i have the higher point, Ryo is so slow at drawing his feet that my opponent often wins the contest. But only Ryuhaku, King and Mr. Karate that eager to jump kick. The hit detection is well designed. The input command is rather responsive except when the times that i try to pull out Haou Ken, Ryo executes fist barrage move instead. The bonus stage section is welcome additional to the single player mode. The AI is competent and pretty fair. Usually, i don't complaint or rather can't feel AI that can read my input. But i detect that Mr. Big can read my mind. The sound effect is mediocre yet decent. The music isn't memorable with so-so quality. The graphic is grainy but the color is well enough.

 

Art of Fighting (1994) is sub standard Street Fighter 2 clone thanks to sluggish movement. It gets no recommendation because it's too tedious for me to have fun from it. As this is Sega Genesis/Megadrive port, i can't speak to the original ones which is in Arcade. I can make the comparison analysis but i choose not to because i'm lazy. But in return, i will write about another Art of Fighting game. How about that?

By the way, i learn nothing wiser from Ryo Sakazaki here. Perhaps he's wiser on next game?

Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- (PC) - Part 2

Previously on first part: Reimu Hakurei touched a golden artifact with the shape of ball that belong to Rinnosuke Morichika. Then a giant beam blast from the golden ball and Rinnosuke turns weird and evil. He defeat Reimu but she manages to escape to Hakurei Shrine. Along the way, she met Mononobe no Futo and she become Reimu's companion. Next morning, Reimu and Futo go to mysterious Giant Tower that's once where Rinnosuke's shop located. On their journey, they discover a village resided by Youkai(s) and do little shopping there.

Welp! Futo is down because Tojiko clone keep shooting her with lightning from distance. I heard theory that Soga no Tojiko becomes ghost due to Futo's sabotage on her ritual hibernation so her clones pretty much have reasonable hatred toward Futo. On tutorial, i got spellcard to revive partner but i don't have it anymore because my inventory got rollback at the starting of this chapter. Do you remember about small shrine that doesn't do anything? Turns out if i touch it, it will resurrect my KO'ed partner. So everything turn out fine. :)   

 

In this dungeon, i find clone of Youmu Konpaku that has ability to spawn her half ghost and it seems pose no threat whatsoever. Sometime there's close up image of anyone who cast spell including enemies. Youmu close up image is...rather risqué as her cloth's buttons seems missing so you can see her chest partially if you look the screenshot hard enough as the image is transparent a bit at this moment.     

 

There's crossroad between Genbu (which is based on 4 mythological beasts of Chinese Constellation: Black Tortoise of The North) Ravine and Canal of Willows (where we came from) and one of the path leads to Aya Shameimaru's house. Of course, Aya isn't there because i saw her on Youkai village and she probably still sniffing around there for gossip on her newspaper.  

 

It was convenient of me to have portable tatami and seat everytime i eat food item. I don't want to eat my food while standing/sitting on water. It's generally not good. By the way, you don't need to worry about Futo's hunger, she's fine because she used to do ritual fasting, probably.

 

Here's the special image of Futo. It's as not risqué as Youmu's unless you think small part of bare thigh is too vulgar. Also her butt curve is visible. Is it possible for it to be visible on loose skirt like that though?    

 

I reckon Genbu Ravine isn't sea but for some reason Minamitsu Murasa's (who's sea ghost) clones dwell here. Plus they hit me with anchor. Rude!

 

Arrgh! Goddamn you Sakuya and your ability to manipulate time! 3X

 

Pass the Genbu Ravine there's another crossroad. I went to Marisa Kirisame's house and hoping i get some aid from my best bud but she isn't here. As for Aya, i can only meet Marisa in her house when this incident is over or so the commentary said.      

 

Also good thing that i have my futon when i'm inflicted with "Sleep" status by Lily White (trap version). I leave this fight to you, Futo! While i have some sweet dream about Gensokyo's peace and my donation box will be full with money. :3

 

Oh hi, Alice Margatroid clone! So you summon your doll against me? No. She only summon robot clone of herself. Clone creates clone? It's cloneception!

I have quite money on my bag so i reckon i want to go back to do more shopping. Thus i hit the "give up" button on game menu and...i regret it as my money turns to 0 plus our level back to 1, the same case with dying. But our status doesn't all back to square one. Our equipment's level remain the same where we left off. So it's quite something.

 

This is new. "Pandemonium" event happens that spawn lots enemies and items suddenly. Also there's red mist covers entire dungeon's floor. Fortunately our equipment are overpowered enough for enemies in this floor.  

 

Besides weapon and shield, we can also equip charm (which is basically accessory) one at the time. The enhancement with yellow box  on it (called "Ability"), is attached to this equipment only. The enhancement with green box on it (called "Resonance"), only active if you equip another piece of equipment that has the same green enhancement. The enhancement with pink circle on it (called "Seal") can be inherited to other equipment via fusion command from Nito Fusion. Some equipment doesn't have Seal at all but has unoccupied Seal slot instead. The equipments have their own property such as Momiji's shield has damage taken reduction or this Sanae Kochiya's hairclip can reduce damage taken from God-type enemies (such as: Shizuha sisters or Shikieki Yamaxanadu). The most amusing to me is Lily White's hat that has ability to instant kill Cirno or Letty Whiterock and turns them into "Water" item.

Much later...   

 

Then i fall into dimensional hole trap. Curse you, Yukari Yakumo! But i can skip to next floor swiftly. Scout_thanks02.wav  

 

Near the Kourin Tower, we met Nitori Kawashiro and she kindly invited us to her underwater base or to be more specific submarine or so she said. She also offer us lodging with fee 1,500 Yen which is the same fee with Keine Kamishirasawa inn's fee. Plus she repairs the Nito Fusion even more so we can mix some materials to make useable items.   

 

There's also Mamizou that willing to take shop near Rinnosuke's shop (which is the base of Kourin Tower). I mean really close like in front of its door! Selling items and bamboo shoots that i don't use, sounds good but i miss Minoriko Aki's ability to change them into red bean cake, so much. So we enter Kourin shop and we find some golden entrance. Once we enter it...

 

...we're in Scarlet Devil Mansion (often abbreviated as "SDM"), miraculously! It's inhabitated by Blonde Sakuya and Meiling. The most baffling to me is: there's bamboo shoots grows inside of this SDM's interior! Imagine bamboo shoots grow on mansion or villa! Ok, let's move on! This blue-haired Koakuma can heal her friends, Blonde Meiling can make herself invincible to my Danmaku, and Patchouli can explode herself, damaging anyone in her vicinity! This place seems too much for my level.

 

Being hit with explosion or burned by Fujiwara no Mokou, affects my inventory. Noticeably: Red Bean Cakes. They will turn into grilled variant which is good as they also refill my HP besides Tummy. If the grilled cakes caught explosion or fire, they will turn into burnt variant which is bad food item. My suggestion is: leave the bean cakes in your inventory while put the grilled ones into Preserve Gap.   

 

The SDM "dungeon" seems too much for me so i return to my shrine. I notice that i haven't equipped the Exorcism Rod 99 that i got from extorting Mamizou in first time. Guess what? It sucks. It has great base damage of: 50 points but it has "Mercy" property that reduces the attacking power greatly! Crime really doesn't pay, huh?  

 

Rolling back to Hakurei Shrine obviously makes my level turns into 1 again thus decreasing my maximum HP. But i can increase it by drinking Dokudami Tea. I approve this because i'm tea lover. c:

 

I find this unique spellcard that increase capacity of Gap of my choosing, by 1. Engineer_mvm_loot_common02.wav.

Much later...

 

See that bamboo shoot on left-bottom side of the screen! You thought, i was crazy or delusional but no i told you the truth! Anyway, as you expect from SDM you will encounter clone of Remilia Scarlet the head family of SDM. As she's vampire, she can sucks your blood to replenish her health. This fight can be atrocious but Futo has been holding silver knife all along that has property to deal increased damage to vampires also nullifies life draining ability of hers. Also Patchouli clone keep coughing and receive damage by herself. This is running joke about Patchouli Knowledge has chronic asthma because her title is "Unmoving Great Library" and like to shut herself in library of SDM. Therefore many fans depict her has bad health condition.    

 

Remember when i said Youmu clone's ability to spawn her half ghost upon demise, seems unthreatening? Turns out, it will possess any enemies and raise their level. Komachi and her clones has ability to manipulate space, therefore they have ability to teleport you to their location at will, which means bad because we had hard time to escape this powered up Komachi! In the end, i have to retreat, again. But this time i use Jump "Return of Hakurei" spellcard. I lose my progress and level but at least i keep my hefty money back to home! 

Much later (again)...

 

This is also new. Mamizou Futatsuiwa and her friend set a shop in middle of maze! I know that Crypt of The NecroDancer has in-maze shop but this is the first time i experience it myself. Because they set the shop in maze, you're not 100% safe here. Enemies can spawn in the middle of it although if they hit one of shopkeeper, she will attack them but you don't get EXP from defeated enemies. Fair enough. The way the shop works is rather unique. The shopkeepers will block entrances if you pick one of their merchandise and ask for payment. You can try to fight them if you want but i choose not to because they run fair business. No need to resort in useless violence, right? Mutual cooperation is the only way to go in my opinion. You can also replace their merchandise with item you want to sell here.

 

I found Tengu Shield which has more useful property than heavy stone that Futo equips. Once i fusion the shield (as base) with the stone, it's not only inherit the stone's seal but also its level, thus enhancing its ability and defense power. Heavy_goodjob01.wav  

If you ever tired navigating maze's layout, here's spellcard that perfect for you. "Berliner Mauer" spellcard will destroy all of the wall and the automap will instantly reveals stair to next floor and items, which is handy. Enemies will come at you in every direction now that the walls are gone but i reckon it's perfect opportunity to apply "Youkai Buster" danmaku. The wall breaker spellcard's name definitely refers to Berlin Wall. Did you know that there's an arcade game with that name? Because it exists.  

 

Most traps will harms you if you trigger it. Meanwhile, this Rinnosuke's trap can be use for you advantage. It will replace 1 random item in your inventory with cold hard cash. It's quite helpful if you're out of space in your inventory (maximum capacity is: 30). But if it gets one of Preserve Gap with very useful provisions within, well big bummer! By the way, you can detect trap by swinging your weapon around. Who need thief-class person anyway?  

 

Okay, i press on and arrive at the shop which run by Robot Rinnosuke. He's cooperated enough to provide shop and lodging for us. This is the last shop on the chapter so shop until you drop!   

 

Oh no! Here comes your evil clone, Futo. Actually she's not big deal compare to other resident of this dungeon. Do you notice that i bring bottle of champagne as weapon? I bought it on vending machine near Hakurei Shrine on last return. It cost fairly expensive but it's quite worth it especially when i wear "Oni Cup" accessory that allows me to have "Resonance" buffs that nullify "drunk" status plus increased my accuracy while i'm at it and increase my attack when i wear two handed weapon like this bottle of champagne. I forget to tell you that besides equipping weapon and shield, i can either dual-wield two weapons or equip special two-handed weapon. Needless to say that, by wearing two-handed weapon, i sacrifice my opportunity to wield shield that can definitely boost defense power. But the "Oni Cup" accessory boosts my defense power. So it's compensated, i think.

 

Shocking twist! Kasen Ibaraki has defeated Rinnosuke and take the golden ball. Destroying the ball right now is pointless. We have to destroy the ball along with power magic that possess Rinnosuke. Therefore we have to separate it from him by beating the hell out of him. That's the kind of plan that i like! :)

Later...

 

Die, monster! You don't belong to this world! Ehmm. I mean. Prepare yourself, Rinnosuke! For now, he's content with sitting on his luxury throne and let his robots deal with us. But he provides them with buffs to give us trouble even more.    

Futo beats him until his HP reaches 0 but he goes Super Saiyan completes with gold armor. This time he walks up to us while keep summoning his robots and give them buffs as always. He's more serious threat if he manages to close on me because i'm not so good at taking damage (because i don't wear shield, remember?). But eventually we can defeat him.

 

So that's the thing that possess Rinnosuke. It resemble Angra Mainyu from Fate/Stay series. Although i know it first from Battle Moon War but you get the idea, right? So, yeah. That thing is big and nasty. Let's roll!

 

WHAT THE FREAK!!! It's extremely powerful! It loves to fill my screen with explosion whenever it gets turn. I notice some fatal mistake that i made. I ate too much grilled red bean cake to fill my HP! I should just wait for my HP to regenerate and ungrilled eat red bean cake to fill my stomach occasionally. In this intense boss battle, i have very small chance to regenerate my HP peacefully thus i must resort to healing items! Also throwing explosive drugs (that i keep it from the very beginning of our journey) at him, seems deal no damage at all! So i get knocked out due to mainly lack of healing items. Oh, duh! I forget that i can mix materials to make healing items by using Nito Fusion. In case you wonder, why i'm sleeping in the middle of crucial fight. That's because of the effect of Soul Gap. It allows me to heal to fullest if i put any item into it. But once i put item on last place of its capacity, i fall asleep for lots of turn.

Much much later...

 

Byakuren Hijiri clones can buff themselves with Superhuman physical abilities that not only increase their attacking power but also increase their chance to dodge our attack! That sound intimidating but the most dangerous enemy in this "dungeon" is Tojiko's clones. They defeat other inhabitant to raise their level! My advice is: keep lots of Misfortune Talisman that can decrease enemy's level by 1 tier upon throwing (and hit obviously). You probably notice that Futo wield smartphone as her weapon now. I bought handheld radio from Robot Rinnosuke and upon leveling up it turns into flip phone and finally smartphone! It's quite amusing to see change on equipments when they get level up.    

 

Second try on final boss goes better... a bit. That's because i manage to stock more healing item this round. But we still have very hard time to defeat him and finally i notice something very important. The final boss takes turn twice as much as us! Is it because we're two and the final boss only sole creature? Not really! It can summon regular enemies (which can be dealt pretty easily) at us! It's just total schmuck that's why! To make things slightly better, i use some revival spellcard that can resurrect Futo and give her invulnerability for some turns.

 

I'm not going to lie. This final boss battle is pretty frustrating.  But i get some amusement to see it turns into Mickey Mouse before spawns enemies, traps, and few pickup item. In the end, i have to escape again. I have to bring this 16,635 Yen with me safely. Besides i'm out of reviving spellcard. This is my main problem that i encounter: Futo can't heal himself! I'm willing to sacrifice my healing items for her but what she can do is basically attack enemies. There's some healing items that can heal both of us but they're very rare.

 

I discover that if i invest money on the Kappa's workshop i can gain certain benefit depends on who get my investment. The kappa on left, can warp me to various point for free. But for my current investment she can only take me back to Hakurei Shrine. Kappa on center can erase "Seal" on equipment if she get enough money. Kappa on right can upgrade my equipment even further if she get more investment. Rather than losing my money in vain, i should just give all of my saving to these guys. Money can also be used for shopping, sure. But the prices are fairly cheap and you can only buy 1 item once. It's not like shops on JRPG that have unlimited merchandise. No. So i end up with excessive money most of the time on my journey.

 

They also made this storage besides providing me with free teleportation. How nice of them! I can make up new layer of strategy: i will hoard as many as important provisions (preferably the rare healing item that can heal both of us) and deposit them here instead of putting them on Preserve Gap that can vanish if i trigger Rinnosuke's trap. I will continue this game, out of record. So that's it for now.

 

Aqua Style's Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- (2018) is quite something for me. That's because i rarely play dungeon explore game with rogue element plus the game has Touhou Project element. The combat is pretty good although there's problem with some enemies (e.g. clone of Iku Nagae and Byakuren Hijiri) has ability to dodge normal attack and i don't think i find a way to overcome that. The equipment system is simple and pretty unique. Finding the proper equipment "set" that can unlock necessary "Resonance" enhancement could be problem because loots are -needless to say- entirely random. Except some equipment that on shops. The enemies are well varied by their ability and accurate to the nature of their origin. The same thing goes to the traps. There's no button to run but there's quick speed movement that will stop when you hit wall or meet crossroad. Thus navigating maze feels easier. Or if you really fed up with maze layout just use the spellcard that destroy all the wall. There's no random invisible encounter (except for Nitori's clones that wear camouflaging device). You can see the enemies just fine but do mind that they spawn randomly on the map. The automap can be annoying because it obscure your screen but i can get used to it. Sadly, there's no 2-way portal like in Diablo or Torchlight II even though i really need it in here. The spellcards are all usefull on their own way and not just for damaging enemies for example there's spellcard that makes all enemies on the floor fall asleep or confused thus fight between themselves. But the victor will goes level up so i don't recommend that you put "confused" status on all enemies. The difficulty curve is pretty smooth but goes skyrocket with the final boss. Yes, i aware that it's natural for the final boss to be overpowered but this is still in first chapter!  I know that i'm not supposed to speedrun this and take more time. It's quite a shame that there's no description of what the Gap's function on inventory menu. The ratio of "dungeon" exploring to the story narration is way too big for me. I love to see more of character interaction here. I assume that either Marisa or Aya will joins me on next chapter but they have to wait before i can beat that damn big thing. The soundtracks are pretty good. I particularly like the one in Genbu Ravine. It's surprising to witness nice Voice Acting in this game although it's fangame. The sound effects are clear and good. 

 

I think Touhou Genso Wanderer -Reloaded- (2018) is worth my time and money. So i guess it get my recommendation. If you're: A) Touhou Project Fans, B) Dungeon explore genre lover, C) Both. You should play it. I mentioned before that i'm not hardcore shmup gamer thus i can't really get into Touhou Project original games. But i can play more of this game even though there's freaking unfair boss. Because the game has spellcard that destroy walls, visible encounter, and boss. I can say that this game is better than Inindo!