TLDR- I Always forget how quality this game is until I come back to it, super fresh feeling and not too difficult so a good starting point considering this is the first entry in the second windows generation.
In the omake of Mountain of Faith, ZUN stated that STG’s were becoming stagnant, and should make changes for the betterment of the genre and games as a whole. ZUN’s thoughts were brought to life in the game he had just made. Mountain of Faith is for sure a Touhou game, bullets everywhere, religious clashes, the works, but it is an important turning point in the series. Touhou 6-9 (I guess 1-5 too for that matter) were mostly self-contained stories with recurring characters, like a cartoon. Mountain of Faith however is where the series turns from being one off stories to a series with an overarching plot and connectivity. The events of this game story wise set off the entire continuation of events that make up the second windows generation (10-13). I think ZUN realized after 10 games in the series that it was due for an update, and that is shown in the sudden investment in world building and bold changes gameplay wise. This game limits the character choices to only Reimu and Marisa, 3 shot types each compared to the last traditional Touhou which had (technically) 8 characters. This in my opinion was a smart move, with a revamping of the world that this game introduced, getting old characters involved that aren’t the main two will clutter the new vision. Gameplay wise, the first thing you’ll notice this game doesn’t have traditional bombs, you can sacrifice 1.00 of your power to do a circular explosion that will go up the screen. I’m pretty indifferent to this change gameplay wise, the game is balanced around you bombing way more in this game than others, with harder patterns through the game so a bomb you can spam and refill makes sense. On an aesthetic level, it’s a disappointment, Reimu and Marisa lose one of their unique traits with a uniform bomb like it is in this game. I don’t believe that making the bomb the same between them really accomplishes much outside of a loss of flavor in the game. But going back to the ability to spam bomb, the game gets put in an interesting limbo where the attacks and patterns are overall more difficult than average, but with that crutch to avoid most difficult attacks in this game, it makes it an excellent starting point, especially with the focus on world building this game introduces. The characters in this game are a HUGE plus point, Nitori, Aya, Sanae, the Moriya’s are all extremely prevalent in canon, and are all great characters on their own, leading this game to have one of the best casts in the series. The plot of this game is also nice in it being rather simple and a logical starting point for the new world building. The stages in this game are also a strong suit; beautiful scenery, for all stages, musical syncing with stage elements, warm fall colors and theming, the stages in this game are a great showing and none really fall flat. The Extra stage is probably the biggest let down for me in this game, partially because the theme of the game and overall tone of it don’t really lend to an epic extra stage, but that’s probably the point with how carefree Suwako and her fight are. Musically, the assignment was again, understood, so many classics, The Gensokyo the Gods Loved, Fall of Fall ~ Autumnal Waterfall, The Primal Scene of Japan the Girl Saw, Faith is for the Transient People, The Venerable Ancient Battlefield ~ Suwa Foughten Field, Tomorrow will be Special, Yesterday was Not are my personal favorites. Ultimately, this game succeeds more than it fails in the changes implemented that are different from the Touhou norm, it sets a precedent of the series willing to tinker, change mechanics and gimmicks to keep the gameplay and danmaku fresh.
In the omake of Mountain of Faith, ZUN stated that STG’s were becoming stagnant, and should make changes for the betterment of the genre and games as a whole. ZUN’s thoughts were brought to life in the game he had just made. Mountain of Faith is for sure a Touhou game, bullets everywhere, religious clashes, the works, but it is an important turning point in the series. Touhou 6-9 (I guess 1-5 too for that matter) were mostly self-contained stories with recurring characters, like a cartoon. Mountain of Faith however is where the series turns from being one off stories to a series with an overarching plot and connectivity. The events of this game story wise set off the entire continuation of events that make up the second windows generation (10-13). I think ZUN realized after 10 games in the series that it was due for an update, and that is shown in the sudden investment in world building and bold changes gameplay wise. This game limits the character choices to only Reimu and Marisa, 3 shot types each compared to the last traditional Touhou which had (technically) 8 characters. This in my opinion was a smart move, with a revamping of the world that this game introduced, getting old characters involved that aren’t the main two will clutter the new vision. Gameplay wise, the first thing you’ll notice this game doesn’t have traditional bombs, you can sacrifice 1.00 of your power to do a circular explosion that will go up the screen. I’m pretty indifferent to this change gameplay wise, the game is balanced around you bombing way more in this game than others, with harder patterns through the game so a bomb you can spam and refill makes sense. On an aesthetic level, it’s a disappointment, Reimu and Marisa lose one of their unique traits with a uniform bomb like it is in this game. I don’t believe that making the bomb the same between them really accomplishes much outside of a loss of flavor in the game. But going back to the ability to spam bomb, the game gets put in an interesting limbo where the attacks and patterns are overall more difficult than average, but with that crutch to avoid most difficult attacks in this game, it makes it an excellent starting point, especially with the focus on world building this game introduces. The characters in this game are a HUGE plus point, Nitori, Aya, Sanae, the Moriya’s are all extremely prevalent in canon, and are all great characters on their own, leading this game to have one of the best casts in the series. The plot of this game is also nice in it being rather simple and a logical starting point for the new world building. The stages in this game are also a strong suit; beautiful scenery, for all stages, musical syncing with stage elements, warm fall colors and theming, the stages in this game are a great showing and none really fall flat. The Extra stage is probably the biggest let down for me in this game, partially because the theme of the game and overall tone of it don’t really lend to an epic extra stage, but that’s probably the point with how carefree Suwako and her fight are. Musically, the assignment was again, understood, so many classics, The Gensokyo the Gods Loved, Fall of Fall ~ Autumnal Waterfall, The Primal Scene of Japan the Girl Saw, Faith is for the Transient People, The Venerable Ancient Battlefield ~ Suwa Foughten Field, Tomorrow will be Special, Yesterday was Not are my personal favorites. Ultimately, this game succeeds more than it fails in the changes implemented that are different from the Touhou norm, it sets a precedent of the series willing to tinker, change mechanics and gimmicks to keep the gameplay and danmaku fresh.