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Random VN: Soukyuu no Soleil


Clephas

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Soukyuu no Soleil stands out a bit amongst the others in the series so far, in that it is based in a world far more obviously in trouble than either of the first two games or the later games.  The main problem in the world of Soukyuu no Soleil is that all use of magic drains life from the planet itself (as opposed to the user's lifespan in Shirogane).  In that world, most of the nations of the world got fixated on using magic to defeat one another... and as a result, much of the world was destroyed, leaving only a small number of people plagued by Berserks (in this case, normal people whose souls were forcibly encased in a metal body while still alive) that wander the planet.  In addition, the White Planet, one of two worlds loosely connected to this world, is a world of high magic that basically funnels off the magic energy as it gets used, preventing it from cycling through the planet.

The protagonist of the story, Sora, is a young man of immense skill lightning magic (given the code name Thor).  Aside from his interactions with those close to him, he tends to seem cold and pragmatic, but he is essentially your straight-forward hot-blooded hero under all that...  Though, because of his unique upbringing, he is even a worse philanderer than Ryuuhei from Shirogane (though in his case, he doesn't have any moral compunctions about constructing a harem for himself). 

I'll be straight with you... this story wasn't as compelling as Shirogane or Gouen.  Part of that is that the true antagonists are so faceless throughout the story, and part of it is Skyfish falling into its usual bad habit of being deliberately obscure at all the wrong points.  While there is some value in seeing all four heroine endings, I can honestly say that there isn't a lot of difference between them, besides how much gets revealed.  I'd say the most complete endings are Odette's and Shinku's, despite Figua being named as one of the main heroines... but I did love Figua (it is kind of hard to resist an adorable, lonely imouto-type character).  Odette is a bit too cheery and optimistic for my tastes, and Shinku is only attractive on the rare occasions when she lets out her brocon beast.  Yuno... is a bit too manly at all the wrong times, lol.

While magic having a price is normal for the series, I actually liked the one-time 'charge' of the protagonist's life-force in Gouen better than the cost in this one... mostly because it got a bit exhausting after a while how they constantly went back to 'Oh, in order to survive we are killing the planet!!!'.  After a while it got more exasperating.  Even the cost in Shirogane (a constant drain on the contracted partner's destined lifespan) is less persistently emphasized than in this one... 

It is interesting how differently some elements, such as the Berserks, manifest in each world...  In Shirogane, they manifested as souls of ancient einherjar, driven mad by being bound into a body of steel.  In Gouen they manifested only occasionally, as just one more tool in the bad guys' case.  Finally, in this one, they were mass-produced as weapons of war, to the point where they pretty much wiped out human civilization.

I do think they could have done this entire game differently... preferably eliminating the gameplay and lowering the amount of H-scenes (Odette alone has nine... five of them right there in the first quarter of the game). 

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