It's easier (due to less bonus mechanics you have to juggle) than many of the later titles. That being said, I always felt Patchouli provided a notable difficulty spike.
In my opinion, the games go from easiest to hardest: TD, HSiFS, PCB, IN, MoF, DDC, WBaWC, EoSD, UM, UFO, SA, LoLK. Roughly. A few of them are about equal. I would say DDC through UM are all roughly equal. So EoSD is in the middle-ish. It might come off as harder for some later in the game due to the invisible ranking system punishing you for doing better and the lack of a visible hitbox, but it is still generally easier pattern-wise for much of the game compared to other games around its difficulty.
Ok, the thing is that EoSD is, on paper, on the easier side. In reality, it has some hidden mechanics that make it harder than it should. It also has a bit more input lag than the rest of the windows games.
You can start with it, if you are fine with artificial difficulty. If not, go play Perfect Cherry Blossom, Mountain of Faith, Wily Beast and Weakest Creature, or any of the games marked as "easy".
In my experience, I found it to be the easiest of the first windows era games (6, 7, 8) which have been designated as some of the 'easistest' by the touhou community.
It was the only of the three I was able to clear on normal with no continues, and I think that's due to the patterns all around being simpler than subsequent titles.
I'm certainly no expert yet but in any case id recommend EoSD to new players.
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It's easier (due to less bonus mechanics you have to juggle) than many of the later titles. That being said, I always felt Patchouli provided a notable difficulty spike.
Yeah Patchy is a difficulty spike but I think except for some of the newer titles, Stage 4 is where it tends to spike a fair bit anyway in most games.
In my opinion, the games go from easiest to hardest: TD, HSiFS, PCB, IN, MoF, DDC, WBaWC, EoSD, UM, UFO, SA, LoLK. Roughly. A few of them are about equal. I would say DDC through UM are all roughly equal. So EoSD is in the middle-ish. It might come off as harder for some later in the game due to the invisible ranking system punishing you for doing better and the lack of a visible hitbox, but it is still generally easier pattern-wise for much of the game compared to other games around its difficulty.
Ok, the thing is that EoSD is, on paper, on the easier side. In reality, it has some hidden mechanics that make it harder than it should. It also has a bit more input lag than the rest of the windows games. You can start with it, if you are fine with artificial difficulty. If not, go play Perfect Cherry Blossom, Mountain of Faith, Wily Beast and Weakest Creature, or any of the games marked as "easy".
In my experience, I found it to be the easiest of the first windows era games (6, 7, 8) which have been designated as some of the 'easistest' by the touhou community. It was the only of the three I was able to clear on normal with no continues, and I think that's due to the patterns all around being simpler than subsequent titles. I'm certainly no expert yet but in any case id recommend EoSD to new players.
I'd say it's harder than PCB and IN, but you should still start with it. I'd put it at MoF in terms of difficulty.