I'll be honest, if it wasn't for the partner characters, I wouldn't have give this game a try. On to that, Okuu's bomb is really good in this and if you're good at playing it close, Byakuren's "chainsaw" vajra is way too good.
All I know is either I'm way out of practice or this game is harder then I'm used to because even on normal this game kicks my ass. Only other Touhou game that does that to me is Subterranean Animism.