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Hopefully this doesn't qualify as necroposting...

Anyway, I just recently tried out the demo (and also just found out that I was a member of this guild, apparently--not that I'm objecting to it, mind). It wasn't bad, gameplay-wise (graphics and music are superb as always), but I could see why some people wouldn't like the air-based combat system very much, among other things. It's not very conventional fighting game-like, nor is it closely similar to the previous fighting games in the series. Then again, SWR had its own set of haters too, one of the chief reasons for this being that its mechanics (such as the Spell Card system implemented here) made the player rely quite a bit on luck to fight effectively. Can't please everyone, I guess; that's perfectly cool.

I understand that a lot of longtime fans were disappointed by Hopeless Masquerade, too, and that disappointment rather unfairly spilled over to the supposed "expansion" that is Urban Legend in Limbo. I myself would not deign to deride the latest entry into the Touhou series of fighters, because I honestly thought it was interesting upon my first playthrough of the demo. I don't mind that ZUN and Tasofro wanted to try something new out. I wish people would give this a chance and treat it separately from its predecessor.

The demo puts you in control of Reimu (who else, right?), and pits you against Marisa in stage 1, then Kasen in stage 2. Kasen. I was just so pleased that she finally made an appearance in the games. The demo ends right before the third stage, with Reimu encountering a cloaked figure in the dark. All the game shows you is a silhouette, basically.

Naturally, the demo's still in Japanese, and there are no available translations out yet, but if you can read even a bit of kana you'd be able to glean some useful tidbits of info to help you understand the plot somewhat--or at least just enjoy some measure of the witty banter. Something that regularly came up in the text was the オカルトボール (Occult Ball), but I've not been able to determine what its significance is as of yet. My first run was pretty much just a playtest, after all.

I'm personally looking forward to how the full game turns out. ZUN himself seems pleased with how it's progressing.