Touhou Scarlet Weather Rhapsody New Demo

Yesterday was the last day of classes for the semester and I had planned to do some extreme studying for exams but unfortunately, I was checking for new blog updates and discovered that a new demo of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody was out. I expected to only try it for a little bit to see what was added since the original demo but now I play it all the time. At this rate, I will be practicing everyday until the full game comes out at Reitaisai 5 on May 25, 2008. If it ends up like my experience with Mountain of Faith, I will blaze through all the stages available in the demo and be immediately slaughtered as soon as I do a new stage.

The biggest thing in the new demo is the availability of the first 3 stages for Reimu’s story scenario. In short, Marisa calls Reimu over because of the unusual weather; it has been raining constantly at Marisa’s house. On the way back, Reimu gets lost in the Forest of Magic and ends up at Alice’s house where according Alice it has been hailing. Looking for a scoop, Aya shows up and is surprised that Reimu is here. The weather becomes a bit rough and Aya gets the idea for a good article called “The shrine maiden blown away by the storm!” Aya guides Reimu back to the Hakurei Shrine and wonders if there will be a major incident soon like “Perhaps the whole shrine collapses, or the shrine maiden gets crushed under all the debris.” Since the demo ends here and the original demo had a collapsed shrine as a playable stage, I suspect that the Shrine collapses at the beginning of the fourth stage.

The gameplay seems to have been refined a bit since the last demo. The actions seems a lot more fast-paced than Immaterial and Missing Power but that might just be a result of the new moves and aerial combat. Speaking of which, I love how the new aerial maneuvers brings a new dimension to fighting. I also enjoy that danmaku can be blocked by enemy danmaku which is something I take advantage of frequently by doing strategic shooting to create barriers and blocking powerful attacks. Of course it sucks when it is used against me; I’m looking at you Marisa and your first Story Spell Card on Lunatic.

I find it fun to play as Reimu but of course I want to know who will be in the final roster. In IMP, I played as Sakuya and Patchouli so I hope to see their return as well as everyone from IMP. Ideally, I would like to see all the major characters from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil through Mountain of Faith plus the new Scarlet Weather Rhapsody Character(s). So basically my perfect roster would look like this:

• Main (2): Hakurei Reimu, Kirisame Marisa
• ESD (7): Rumia, Cirno, Hong Meirin, Patchouli Knowledge, Izayoi Sakuya, Remilia Scarlet, Flandre Scarlet
• PCB (10): Letty Whiterock, Chen, Alice Margatroid, Lunasa Prismriver, Merlin Prismriver, Lyrica Prismriver, Konpaku Youmu, Saigyouji Yuyuko, Yakumo Ran, Yakumo Yukari
• IMP (1): Ibuki Suika
• IN (8): Wriggle Nightbug, Mystia Lorelei, Kamishirasawa Keine, Inaba Tewi, Reisen Udongein Inaba, Yagokoro Eirin, Houraisan Kaguya, Fujiwara no Mokou
• PFV (5): Syameimaru Aya, Medicine Melancholy, Kazami Yuuka, Onozuka Komachi, Sikieiki Yamaxanadu
• MF (8): Aki Shizuka, Aki Minoriko, Kagiyama Hina, Kawashiro Nitori, Inubashiri Momizi, Kotiya Sanae, Yasaka Kanako, Moriya Suwako
• New (4?)

This is pretty unrealistic but it would be fantastic if this was it had at least half of these characters. Anyways must go back to playing studying.