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OTL (One Thousand Lies) review


Dergonu

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So I know @Deep Blue made one of these a little while ago, but I really wanted to get one out myself as well. (I am also including pictures. You are too lazy man! :P ) Now that the game is released, I feel it really deserves some coverage! 

(Note that I read the beta version, and so some improvements will have been made to the final release. Also, I wrote this review in a littel bit of a subjective style, really because I want to get through my personal feelings that I experienced when I read the VN. It might make the review seem slightly biased, but I hope this doesn´t make the review seem less serious. I played the game with a completely objective state of mind, and this is just my honest opinion of the game. Anyways, on to the review:) 

 

 

One thousand lies is a 5-10 hour OELVN made by Keinart Lobre, (@Keinart.) The VN is about a group of friends goofing around as they get closer to graduating from high-school, though there is a lot more to the novel than what initially meets the eye. 

(Note, the novel has both a Spanish and English version. I read and proofread the English version.) 

 

In One Thousand Lies we meet Ciaràn Endyein, a slightly delinquent-like teenager who, along with his best friend Ausse Ealdwine, pull of silly yet harmless shenanigans that always end up getting them in trouble. The two are also accompanied by the pretty and intelligent Ziva Shani, who constantly try to psychoanalyze Endyein. 

 

At the beggining of the story, Endyein recieves a strange, mysterious email, telling him to go to a certain place without any more detailed instructions. The sender appears to have stolen a package Endyein was waiting for, so confused and angry, he decides to do what the email says. (With some persuasion from his friends.) This sends him down a fairly heavy psychological, yet heartwarming and slice of life-like journey. 

 

Story and writing

The story in the game starts of really light and funny. It´s a slice of life story that has refreshing and entertaining humor; it doesn´t use overused clichès that you have seen 100 times before. As you get further into the story, you will start to notice that not everything is exactly how it seems. It´s hard to talk about this without spoiling the entire story, so we are going to keep it short. The story is well written, has pretty good pacing and does a good job of hiding the real kicker until the very end. 

The writing in the novel is, like I´ve already mentioned, really good. It is every editor´s dream, going through a novel that has essentially no mistakes, and that doesn´t repeat itself over and over, but instead offers new, refreshing words and phrases for each sentence. The language was almost a little bit too complex at times, as I felt it was unnecessary to use such big words for a normal, every-day setting. Still, the novel does use a lot of psychology terms and the likes, so it´s not like a complex language is a bad thing for it. 

There isn´t much else to say about the story, as the novel is quite short, and giving any more information could possibly spoil it. All in all, story and writing is very well done, and deserves a good 9/10 rating. 

 

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Characters and art

The characters in the novel are all diverse and interesting in their own way. You have Ausse, the slightly dumb but lovable rich kid who might or might not be the MC´s friend because of his financial situation. 

Ziva, the beautiful and determined female friend who constantly gets on the MC´s nerves when she tries to diagnose him with different psychological disorders.

Claire, the cute and shy girl who only opens up when in the presence of Endyein. 

Luce, the playful and energic joker who always has a funny remark that will put the MC in his place. 

And finally Diniz The Sloth. (I think that title should be sufficent in describing him.) 

 

Each character has nice and well drawn sprites with several facial expressions that feels natural. 

The CG in the game is very pretty, though certain facial features gets a little less "natural" in the CGs compared to the character sprites, especially Luce´s. Regardless of this though, the CG is very nice and well made. 

The backgrounds are kind of like a painted sketch, which is a unique but interesting style that I personally found quite enjoyable. 

 

The only complaint I would have about the characters is that Diniz seems to have very little screen time compared to the others, and therefore he has little time to become a part of the main cast. 

Characters, 9/10, 

Art 7.5/10

 

Music and atmosphere

The music in the novel is pretty good overall and seeing as the game is not voiced, this is a good thing. There are several comfortable soundtracks that helps bring out the emotion reflected in the scene, especially during the more enigmatic and mysterious situations the novel has to offer. 

The music did not take me by storm, but it still did its job very well in filling the "silence" when playing the unvoiced game. 

Not much more to say about it. Music gets a 6.5/10 score from me. 

The atmosphere in the game is quite hard to put into words. During the reading experience, it is obvious that there is something there that is more than just a few teenagers messing around. There is some kind of heavy undertone in the writing that clearly tries to tell you something more, but its written in such a way that what exactly that is, doesnt become apperant until the very end. I think that the way this was done is really quite impressive. Each character has a part to him or her that helps hint to this, and each scene does put out tiny clues, though in the end, figuring out what the cause of such an atmosphere is before the credits roll is not easy. 

This part of the game gets a clear 10/10 rating from me. It was quite the ride. 

 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, OTL is an entertaining and innovative OELVN that doesnt try to do all those things we have already seen in Japanese VNs, but instead it uses original humor, exceptional writing and an interesting and thrilling psychological aspect to make the entire reading experience a blast. 

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading this, and simply voulenteered to proofread / test the game because of Deep Blue´s interest in it. Needless to say, I was not dissapointed. 

Final rating: 9/10. 

Here is a link to the thread for the game here on Fuwanovel:

 

8 Comments


Recommended Comments

Nice shorter review

I don't know how exactly those points get you a 9/10 final rating, but hey, it's your opinion

I'm playing this myself on my tablet in shorter bursts, and it doesn't exactly surprise me

It's good, but only thing I exceptionally like is the art

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2 minutes ago, Arcadeotic said:

Nice shorter review

I don't know how exactly those points get you a 9/10 final rating, but hey, it's your opinion

I'm playing this myself on my tablet in shorter bursts, and it doesn't exactly surprise me

It's good, but only thing I exceptionally like is the art

Its more of a "all these things taken into consideration", not a flat "math says this!" score. 

As for the other part, wait for the ending and see what you think. 

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Could be a few typos in there that I didn´t catch. Will go over it again later. Wrote it all in one go and had to run to the bus. :P 

#Best proofreader ever, right? :makina: 

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Guest -Aylin

Posted

I don't usually play kinetic VNs but this, this is an exeption. I don't know how the writer could make a story that's funny and far from boring, but actually really deep. I played it two times to actually understand the serious parts. It made me think about life, lies, people, everthing. And at the same time it made me laugh out loud many times. When I first finished the story I couldn't find the One Hidden Truth part, therefore I was a bit dissappointed. I thought that the writer wasn't very good with endings, just like Ciar. After my second play, I discovered it randomly and, let's say, there were a lot of tears. :komari: 

Anyway, I think it was a truly perfect and unique story. Thanks to the writer for doing this.

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2 minutes ago, Guest -Aylin said:

I don't usually play kinetic VNs but this, this is an exeption. I don't know how the writer could make a story that's funny and far from boring, but actually really deep. I played it two times to actually understand the serious parts. It made me think about life, lies, people, everthing. And at the same time it made me laugh out loud many times. When I first finished the story I couldn't find the One Hidden Truth part, therefore I was a bit dissappointed. I thought that the writer wasn't very good with endings, just like Ciar. After my second play, I discovered it randomly and, let's say, there were a lot of tears. :komari: 

Anyway, I think it was a truly perfect and unique story. Thanks to the writer for doing this.

Yeah I too missed the one hidden truth when I was testing the game, and was about to send an email to the writer going "wtf..?"

Then I spotted it, played it and ... wow.

Such an amazing game. Truly deserves all the praise it has gotten and more.

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