[Fern]

This hard-derailed into a Balance Fu when it was just a QOL suggestion to skip a step on something that you can already do in-game. It doesn't make a difference to get Youkai faster, balance-wise.

You can already get most of the Youkai in the game without the QOL I was suggesting, so I'm not sure what "worsens" for being able to just do that faster, since it's not stopping people from doing it regardless. I like having a bunch of Youkai because I like switching them around for fun, because not all of them are useful to put it lightly. Some of them have the hard counter, not all, and you can just pack those particular Youkai without going over 10 or 12 contracts anyway.
 
It doesn't really change anything balance-wise to be able to get Youkai faster. The problem is with Sync Mind skills, not with the Youkai amount, because the amount of hard counter Youkai that are worth the contract slots doesn't go past 12.

Limiting the amount of Youkai slots affects the people that want to screw around with unoptimal Youkai more than it does the ones that want to hard counter people. With less than 12 contracts, you can get:

Suzaku (Hard counters Evade)
Sazae Oni (Hard counters Water and Evade)
Drowned Woman (counters physical)
Chun (counters fire)
Hatsu (counters acid)
Haku OR Yukionna (counters ice)

That's 6 Youkai and you don't really need other ones if you just want to hard counter people. Everything else is extra. There's more good Youkai than those 6, but keep in mind that not all of them are necessarily worth the slot.