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Putting a stage section in the first level will serve as a tutorial of sorts to introduce the player to this game's controls and mechanics, and for the later stages, they may serve to introduce the player to whatever gimmick may appear in later stages and boss fights. Say the geysers in Yuugi's fights for example : they could easily serve as things that help you get around during stage 3. Also, there's no reason why anyone would assume that these are harmless (in a BOSSFIGHT !) if they are not introduced to what they do beforehand. IF there's going to be stages.
And I wouldn't be quick to assume that future stage sections are guaranteed to suck cuz we ain't got no "sample" stage to judge the quality of Tasofro's stage design. IF there's going to be stages. Mortal Kombat Mythology gameplay parallels don't quite work either for this game cuz we got dash and a far reaching camera. Besides MKM's problems really lies in a combination of multiple factors rather than just having fighting game mechanisms : it's got wonky hitbox for some stage hazards, level design that are NOT sensible (3D platforming in a 2D game for that one stage, VERY slow pacing for that other one), weird AI that does not synergize well with the level where they're, and some more ... That is such a fantastic combination of various bad stuff that I don't think it's reasonable to expect those design flaws (that are proper to MKM) to automatically pop up in 17.5 too, stage design wise, if Tasofro plan to add stages.
And there are already arranges of stage theme songs, which honestly would be wasted if they were only made for skippable cutscenes. I mean, it's a Tasofro game, you'd expect there to be one of those pre-battle themes or something.
Anyway, for me, my concerns for this game is a little bit different. Say Tenjou no Tempest or Luna Nights for example : they work pretty damn well because they've got this ONE single character, plus a particular gimmick associated with that ONE character, plus stages and boss battles designed with that ONE character-related gimmick in mind, plus there being a lot of other progression-related stuff (skills for one, items for the other) that allow you to do different stuff for this ONE character : TH 17.5's going for a lot of playables, which allow a certain thing that they've got going for them in the fighters story telling, but I don't believe there's a practical way to give such depth and richness to EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE of the playables this time : I expect that we're gonna have more diversity instead of depth this time, and Tasofro's gonna need to come up with something to cope up with that.
A relatively gratuitous speculation here, but for this game I'm expecting Tasofro to go design the playable girls around particular playstyles : for example, Reimu and Yuugi could be lumped together into a more "physical" group, and that infering to similar sprites that they share, while Marisa and Kogasa could fit into something like a danmaku reliant group ; and everybody inside such or such group will have similarities in their playstyles but some differences as well. I don't think its going to be realistic to make EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE of the girls play in a radically different way, so this is how I'm expecting things to be. I could be totally off the mark tho, but time will tell.
As for criticisms, there are two things from the demo that I hope will be changed for the final game :
1/ The lack of a dedicated jump button, like previously pointed : if this game intend to be a platformer like it says on the tin, then they should really add it. Jumping is a staple to the genre, please implement. And dunno, maybe allow it to not consume the "stamina"-ish kinda bar
2/ Probaaaaaaaably change how the "bombs" work ?! Cuz apparently they cost you lives. Casual players want to burn through bosses lifebar quickly but also have enough lives to survive, while skilled / super players generally prefer a challenging no miss, and potentially no bomb run : this is a mechanism that serves nobody. I hope it gets changed
Anyway, by this point, [stage sections] is still a yet-to-be-opened can of worms, cuz there are a lot more questions that should be considered if they decide to go for them : how will the characters routes be ? Cuz I don't believe Yuugi's gonna start from the forest, go to the cave and into the Onsen, for example. And how will the stages be balanced per character ? Are they going to stay the same or be more adapted to such or such character's possible playstyle ? Or will certain stages still keep their general aesthetic while being designed differently ? And many more ...
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