@Fury: I know, but Touhou takes the Street Fighter approach, and I fucking hate Street Fighter. The game would have sparked interest in me, and probably millions of other people who haven't even played Touhou, if it had a story. Stories, are the main driving point to about 90% of games, and should be treated to be as important as Gameplay. With the characters, there was potential to have a great story but they blew it aside for these crappy themes. The game just begged for a story and the creators denied it that fuel for it to become a good game in my opinion.
Now, games don't need stories, I loved Viva Pinata. I also loved Scribblenauts. They kicked major ass, and was fun. But they were both games that didn't need a story to be really really good. But if your going to have super powerful characters like that in a game like Touhou, you gotta have a means as to how they got that powerful. You have to have some sort of narrative. You must have a way to explain how this stuff happened, and that's one of the reasons the story is there for. That's why I have some interest in DMC. Even though I have never played it ever.
@PF: Yes, the manuals have it, but it could have been placed into the game as well. No one, ever, reads, the manual. The manual should solely be used as a way to give a short summary of the game, introduce some characters, and tell you how to play said game. Not where the whole story should be, the whole story should be in the games.
@Steak: Of course.