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Swan song Review/Thoughts thread


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There are several rape scenes and some are part of the main plot and some are part of the bad ends.

The one in the main plot is the "useful one".

The others I find non relevant and are in the Bad ends. If you want to avoid them I suggest using a guide.

 

Otherwise they are not skippable

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First First and foremost I would like to say that this review is based on my personal opinion.

It is not perfect, I am no journalist and am new to writing long texts in English.

Feel free to post your thoughts about the game or make a review of your own if you feel that you have other reasons than mine to recommend the game or not, or if you think mine is lacking.

 

No need for the posts to be 1000 pages long but it would be nice if anwsers the responses were a little more than just "the game was fun".

 

SWAN SONG

 

songk.jpg?w=549&h=274

 

I picked swan song randomly. I wanted something different from all the classic VN's such as the Key novels or AKBsoft2's. It had a good rating so I gave it a try.

 

Summary :

It is a snowing snowy Christmas Eve… Everything seems so peaceful when suddenly a huge earthquake occurs. The earthquake causes the city to be leaves the city in ruin, and the surviving people survivors need to find ways to stay alive. Some go crazy and rob others, some cling onto God, some gather to live together. The 6 main characters meet at a church while they were trying to find shelter from the snow. What will they see and experience in this extreme situation…?

 

E30vW.jpg

 

Gameplay specificity :

You will not incarnate only one character. Despite the fact that you will most of the time live the events experience most events through Amako Tsukasa's (the protagonist) eyes, you will often switch from character to character especially when approaching the end of the novel.

I will explain later why I think this choice was relevant in this particular novel.

 

The way the character images are displayed also are is also uncommon, rather than having a picture of someone standing up like most of the VN's have in most VNs, here you can only see their faces in a trapezium attached to one of the corners. Plus, each character has a very reduced number only has a handful of sprites (sometimes only one). But when I try thinking of imagining the game with a more classic graphic graphical setup, the only conclusion I came to was that it wouldn't fit the game.

 

The story itself is linear, you have no real choices. Most of the time picking the wrong choice leads to a bad end so you just have to save at every choice and try again. There is no complex mechanism are no complex mechanisms in the game. And that is a problem: I like more liberty in a Novel of that length, not allowing the player to have a bigger influence on the story is frustrating. You can not -even to a small extent- have any influence on the final events.

 

And the last obvious point : It's not a dating sim, you don't get to chose between the heroins heroines.(heroin - drug, heroine - female hero :P) The couples are predefined predetermined so do not try to get this or that girl for as it is impossible.

 

2225.jpg

 

Introduction:

There are 6 main characters, whom I will intoduce briefly

Tsukasa, a young and former very talented very talented former (unless she is no longer talented, in that case it's "formerly very talented pianist) pianist who shows very little (nothing wrong per se, just too much "very") rarely shows her emotions.

Takuma, the emotionnal emotional and paranoid nerd.

Hibari, a young a small energetic girl. a young, small and energetic girl.

Yuka, a very calm and motherlike motherly girl.

Tanomura, a cheerful guy always willing who does his best to avoid conflict conflicts.

Aroe, a young girl suffering from a mental disease, probably autism.

 

This is the small group we will be following during our playthrough.

 

If I had to chose 2 words for swan song to describe Swan Song I would pick “cold” and “realistic”.

The game doesn't focus at all on “How do humans survive after such a catastrophee catastrophe" but on “How do humans act when there is no authority in a situation of crisis”.

A massive earthquake happens most people die and the survivors have to … well, survive !

And this is what the game showed in a spendid way.

 

What you would at first think to be a problem would be the lack of food, and the cold.

That's the first instictive action to take.

In the game this isn't a problem at all. The issue will be mentionned mentioned a few times but will only serve as a step to reach THE real the REAL problem : Humans.

Humans … what a deep and intersting interesting subject.

 

My first reaction to the occuring occurring events was : “Are they crazy ?”

And they are indeed, but mankind is pretty insane overall and that's why there are tons of books stating the law and rules of life in society. What if the rules didn't exist anymore, or they weren't applicable anymore. were no longer applicable?

If you dig into the issue, many pholisophical questions are raised arise.

 

I will try to talk about them as well as I can but the result is surely going to be sloppy and “clumsy”. So I'm going to point out the facts and discuss them carefully.

 

The first thing that can be pointed out, is that instinctive sense the instinct to find others, to join a group. Humans aren't worth much alone. That's why our little group of 6 characters are willing to find other people for help or even try to recreate some sort of society.

But as it is widely know known there isn't just one way to create a group. Ideals may differ, so can rules.

 

And quickly conflict happens arises. Why do they fight would you ask ? You may ask "Why do they fight"? Well, for no reason at all like in most of the human conflicts. Every kind All kinds of repulsion, and discrimination doesn't do not have a real reason. And that is shown really well, because all game long I kept wondering : "Why? Why do they do that? Why do they do such horrible things?" Things they would themselves find inhuman in a normal situation.

The game isn't asking the reader to understand or even to justify the massacers massacres, the murders, the rapes …

It just points out the process processes that leads lead to it.

 

And if you think the game is unrealistic, well, get a history book.

All this to say that would it be the main “antagonist”, or his underlings or even all the people in the background have humanlike reactions, and that's what hit me in the face.

That is to say, whether the "antagonist", his underlings or all the background characters, they all have lifelike reactions, and that's what struck me the most.

 

Characters:

The characters serve the story rather than the story serving them but all of them have a central role in the scenario... except Aroe. Let's talk about Aroe, I really don't see her adding any value to the story! I think I understand why they put her there. It could have been be to show us how difficult it can be to bare responsabilty bear responsibility for someone else when you already have to take care of yourself in a critical situation. But that isn't even the case, Hibari takes good care of her and Aroe just seems to be the random factor to trigger events which wouldn't occur otherwise. And that i'm not okay with I'm not okay with that. (Why the heck is she on the title screen background? Really?).

 

H-scenes:

2 categories here :

1. Rape scenes : Completely useless, they talk enough about raping to disgust me, no need to add scenes which are really disturbing disturbing as well. Let's say it fan service for people who like it. just say it's fanservice for the people that enjoy that kind of thing. I don't.

2. H-scenes involving romance : These I didn't mind at all, They weren't as cliché (well done with the accent, although people don't usually add it) as the ones I've read before, girls do not moan a 1000 thousand times, love is obviously there and they weren't just put there for no reason.

In the same way relationships between people is are shown in a very bad way, it's they are also shown through 4 of our 6 protags in a very positive way.

 

Soundtrack:

The few musics musical tracks the game has aren't that great so I have nothing to praise in terms of music.

But most of the time music isn't played, what all we hear is silence. A natural silence, or wind or footsteps which adds add to this the “cold” atmosphere I was talking about.

But I must say that the main title's music is breath taking breathtaking.

 

DShhxm8.jpg

 

Computer Graphics:

The art quality is high, really high. Good CG's at the right moments, the backgrounds aren't confusing.

The game is very dark and the colors have been carefully chosen accordingly. The fact that the sprites don't change a lot much adds to the freezing feeling the game designers wanted to create.

 

Scenario:

Nothing is really explained : What happened ? An earthquake, Why ? No idea, Why was there no sun ? No idea, What happened on earth overall ? No idea.

Nothing is really explained : "What happened? An earthquake? Why?" No idea. "Why was there no sun?" No idea. "What happened on earth overall?" No idea.

Do not expect any explanations because you won't get any.

I didn't actually mind it that much because that wasn't the game's objective.

 

An overall very good and well though thought-out VN but lacking explanations, with a disputable undistinguished soundtrack and one useless character.

 

Personnal Personal rating: 8/10

 

:P

Much better, although I have to say I'm slightly disappointed you spelled "personal" correctly in the first sentence and incorrectly in the last.

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I thought that Swan Song was done pretty well, it felt like the way people would act in a post apocalyptic type scenario, However there are a lot of unanswered questions... 

Like Taeko saying she was informed of the disaster a head of time... does this mean that it was a natural phenomena or not? Also you only hear about the one other town.... does this mean it was a nation wide or just these town and was it really an earthquake or perhaps a meteor strike?

All in all I really did enjoy the novel  despite the rape scenes... 

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I'm playing this now! I've not got that far yet, and I'm trying to keep myself spoiler free. How long did it take you guys to complete it? 

 

A little less than 20 hours I'd say.

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  • 5 months later...

Few spoilers above, read carefully~

 

Well, this one was a great VN, and I have some thoughts to share. First of all, aside the rape rape rape, I think the sex scenes were just great. The first one, between Tsukasa and Yuka was just beautiful. There wasn't only sex, but real love, at least by Tsuka's side. And maaan, Kawase and Tanomura were so freaking funny doing sex, I even cryed while laughing.

 

The athmosfere was great. Very dark, but also fun when it need to be. I didn't think it was forced, but very natural. I just didn't like Yuka's point of view, since her character was so nice and good, and then I found out the truth about her... meh, everybody there is mean =(

 

I just hate Kuwagata. He's a stupid, crazy, shit character, from the start until end. The best scene was that one at the school, last earthquake. Well deserved. Man, what he did to their friends... to Kawase............. burn  in hell, bitch.

 

Some coincidences bugged me. Like, the doctor changed his way of seeing life by listening Tsukasa playing the piano. Then Yuka did the same, with this same guy. Then Tsukasa got his injury because he was going to see Yuka. Then look, all three get trapped in the same sheltter. Then comes Taeko and baaam!, some imouto story. But that didn't spoil the story so much, so we can accept that half of it all happened because of Tsukasa. It's better then G-senjou no Maou, at least =P

 

The last an most important thing that simply doesn't make sense... WHY Aroe is in the cover of the game, naked, if we never do nothing with her? I mean, when I first saw that, I thought she was the main heroin or something like that. But then, I find out about her disability and we never even fall in love with her. And there was so many conversation about her abilities, condition, and all, but in the end, she wasn't that important, and most of her story was left behind. I mean, we don't even know how she really feel. If there was a main heroin, or something like that  in the game, I would point Kawase as it.

 

Oh, now is the last, I promise... I really wanted to know why they were left behind. I mean, okey, people weren't warned about the earthquake so they wouldn't cause any problems to the city, roads, etc. I mean, imagine a whole city like New York needing to get away because of an earthquake. It would create a chaos in the entire US. But why after that nobody came? Why the Daichi society was left behind too? I really wanted to understand more of the behind of scenes, but it was all focused on the main characters and their struggles to survive =(

 

Well, that's it. What you guys think? Do you agree?

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Finally a Swan Song topic! This is my favorite visual novel. Let's analyze shall we.

 

First lets talk about why the Rape scene was important. 

The scene where Kuwagata saw the girl get raped broke him mentally. Before that he was a timid man. After after seeing the grotesque rape, he became more militant, violent, and harsh. What's so fascinating about that scene is that you see him develop through his own eyes. Because you read through his perspective you get to see how mentally he changes after that scene. His whole psychology starts to change after that scene. I would argue that rape scene was the most important scene in the VN.

 

Onto the next point.

I also hate Kuwagata, and that's why I love his character. We get to see how Kuwagata saw the world before and after the rape scene. 

We get to read through his perspective when he was still a shy and timid man, and then we get to read through his perspective when he is a murdering rapist. We not only get to see him change through his own perspective, but we see how he changes through other character's perspectives. Honestly the development that went into his character is absolutely brilliant. The writers made you go from feeling sorry for how much of a push over he was, to disdaining him for how cruel and violent he became.

 

Next point:

Some coincidences bugged me. Like, the doctor changed his way of seeing life by listening Tsukasa playing the piano. Then Yuka did the same, with this same guy

 

While a coincidence, I actually felt this added to Tsukasa's character quite a bit. Tsukasa is presented as a stoic and silent character. 

Before those scene's we knew that he used to be a prodigy pianist, but we didn't know why piano playing was significant to him. Seeing how Tsukasa's piano ability changed both the Doctor's and Yuka's lives showed Tsukasa (and us) how important his music was. It makes it all the more tragic that he lost his ability to play.

 

WHY Aroe is in the cover of the game, naked, if we never do nothing with her?

 

I love how they put Aroe in the front cover because of how subtle her importance is.

Aroe symbolically represents peace because she was never involved in any of the conflicts over resources. She is also a symbol of hope in humanity, because as long as people are able to take care of her it shows that people still have kindness in their hearts. The way Aroe rebuilds the sculpture, only for it to be destroyed at the very end of the True ending, is a metaphor for humanity. Rebuilding the sculpture was a metaphor for rebuilding hope in humanity. Something only Aroe could do since she can't understand how shitty humanity is. But then when the statue is destroyed, it shows how any hope for humanity is destroyed. Which was the case as everyone died in the end. Or maybe only Yuka survived, I forget. But either way most people in the world died.

 

Okay on to your last point:

I really wanted to know why they were left behind. I mean, okey, people weren't warned about the earthquake so they wouldn't cause any problems to the city, roads, etc. I mean, imagine a whole city like New York needing to get away because of an earthquake. It would create a chaos in the entire US. But why after that nobody came?

 

I'm not entirely sure what your confused about. If you are wondering why no foreign aid came to help the survivor's here is why. 

The world ended! Natural disasters happened all over the world. Virtually every where in the world is a wreck. Nobody can help anybody because everybody is focused on surviving for themselves. This is where Aroe is significant. Taking care of Aroe (a complete burden) shows that people are still selfless enough to take care of somebody who is completely useless. It shows how humanity only has hope if people focus on functioning as a group for the betterment of everybody (even a burden like Aroe), not by fighting among each other. The second and final earthquake happened because humanity failed the final test. Humanity didn't work together to solve their problems, instead they fought and killed each other.

 

Man its been a good 2 years since I last read Swan Song, yet so much of it remains fresh in my head. Definitely my favorite visual novel (even more than Kanon). I hope my interpretations helped you.   

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The first rape scene indeed was great, it helped the development of Kuwagata. But then, some others came and did nothing but just be gross. I mean, if he was so disgusted about what he saw, why would he do the same thing over and over during the game? Damn, he did it to his friend, one of the only who stood by his side in the begining [and probably until the end, since she always wanted to stop the fighting and get everyone together again]. And during the normal ending, his words to that raped girl [i forgot her name, she was very stupid too] made me hate him even more, since they were kindda destined together, and she really loved him =(

 

Tsukasa's character wasn't that important to me. I get how the piano was important for him, and even being away from it all his life, he managed to be that "happy". But still, two characters being changed only by his music, and in completely different ways [one for good and the other bad], seemed a bit forced. He could be developed in some other ways. It's the same for some scenes with his father near the end. They weren't very important.

 

Aroe indeed is a cute girl, and I didn't think of her that way. I mean, she is pure, but the "hope" of humanity is too much for me to think. She always have been a burden for who took care of her, but still, some characters became happy with her, like Kawase. But most of the people living at the hospital simply didn't give a damn about her, and she didn't became so relevant to their salvation .-. I mean, she could get way more time to shine and really affect everyone, which didn't happened. At least she helped the MCs.

 

Whaat, I thought only Japan was affected. I mean, maybe they leave them because it was some nuclear problem. There's one scene where one of them, I think it was Yuka, says that it could be a nuclear bomb, so I took that as possible. But still, they would help the survivors. But all the world being destroyed didn't came to my mind. And I didn't see the second earthquake simply as an ending to them, but as a salvation to the living ones. It made them realize how life was still important, just like Yuka realized at the true route. And also helped to kill some Kuwagatashit guys =3

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hm can someone help explain some of the things at the end of the "normal" route? I understand that Tanomura, Kuwagata, Aore, and Tsukasa all die, but what of the other characters?

 

Do we ever know that Yuka commits suicide, or whether Kawase dies? Basically, is the "normal" route everyone dies?

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the review, I played this novel because of it, all the characters on this novel are amazingly developed specially Kuwagata,

he was always a shy guy, without any self-esteem or confidence and that's why he ends they way he does, he was lost all his life and those events made him worst.

I think this novel deserves much more but all the violence and specially the rape scenes makes people dont wanna read it, some of them unnecessary for me, I kinda get it, they do make feel immerse in the story overall but some of them are really too much

specially the Aroe's one, that fucking scene is just fucked up in many ways and without any purpose at all, i know it's just a bad ending but still or when they rape Hibari

:(

 

 

 

 

 

I know you wrote this a while ago but I have to disagree with a few things (I agree with most of them)

 

The ending where everybody dies is not the true ending is the normal one, the true is where you survive with all of them (well most of them

:P )

 

And Aroe was not a burden, the truth is she was the one that was holding the group together most of the time, is like calling your "conscience" a burden, I don't know what word can be used to describe her but burden is really a derogatory word in many ways and doesnt fit her at all.

 

BTW the soundtrack is amazing, yes sometimes the game doesnt have any sound but when it does it's awesome, specially this two

 

 

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I know you wrote this a while ago but I have to disagree with a few things (I agree with most of them)

The ending where everybody dies is not the true ending is the normal one, the true is where you survive with all of them (well most of them

:P )

 

And Aroe was not a burden, the truth is she was the one that was holding the group together most of the time, is like calling your "conscience" a burden, I don't know what word can be used to describe her but burden is really a derogatory word in many ways and doesnt fit her at all.

 

I'm so glad you brought this thread back to life. Regarding the use of the term "true end", I think you are right. When I wrote that post (lol I remember it was in the middle of the night during Summer vacation), I confused the normal end as the "true end" because in a sense the normal end is the real ending. The "good ending" in my opinion is just a cop out, the normal ending is the better one, and is truer and more appropriate to the original story.

 

Regarding your point about Aroe. I completely agree, but here is an explanation by what I meant by burden: 

Aroe is the conscience of the group that keeps them together. However, in dire situations I would say a conscience is a burden. If you were stranded on an island with five other people with nothing to eat, chances are one of you will resort to cannabilism and disregard your conscience. In fact, both Freud and Nietzsche argue that morality exists because of civilization. Thus when civilization is destroyed as it is in Swan Song, it is no surprise to see morality disappear. Aroe (a conscience) is a burden when you don't have the luxury to think of other people. The characters in Swan Song are essentially given a test. They can work and cooperate together to reestablish civilization, which Aroe represents; or they can fight each other over resources, thus abandoning morality,civilization, and Aroe. Morality and hope is getting figuratively raped by Kuwagata's brutishness, and is literally expressed in Aroe getting raped by Kuwagata. It is not a coincidence that the character who abandons morality and destroys civilization with his raping and pillaging also rapes the girl who represents the human conscience.

 

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I'm so glad you brought this thread back to life. Regarding the use of the term "true end", I think you are right. When I wrote that post (lol I remember it was in the middle of the night during Summer vacation), I confused the normal end as the "true end" because in a sense the normal end is the real ending. The "good ending" in my opinion is just a cop out, the normal ending is the better one, and is truer and more appropriate to the original story.

 

Regarding your point about Aroe. I completely agree, but here is an explanation by what I meant by burden: 

Aroe is the conscience of the group that keeps them together. However, in dire situations I would say a conscience is a burden. If you were stranded on an island with five other people with nothing to eat, chances are one of you will resort to cannabilism and disregard your conscience. In fact, both Freud and Nietzsche argue that morality exists because of civilization. Thus when civilization is destroyed as it is in Swan Song, it is no surprise to see morality disappear. Aroe (a conscience) is a burden when you don't have the luxury to think of other people. The characters in Swan Song are essentially given a test. They can work and cooperate together to reestablish civilization, which Aroe represents; or they can fight each other over resources, thus abandoning morality,civilization, and Aroe. Morality and hope is getting figuratively raped by Kuwagata's brutishness, and is literally expressed in Aroe getting raped by Kuwagata. It is not a coincidence that the character who abandons morality and destroys civilization with his raping and pillaging also rapes the girl who represents the human conscience.

 

Well for me both endings fits perfectly, although one is really depressing, so it should be the real ending because that's the realistic one in that kind of situation, but I do like the kinda "happy" ending too.

 

And now I do agree with you about her being a "burden" still I don't quiet like that word to describe her but i think it's fine in that context,

 

For me Kuwagata was the best character you can see him slowly turning and transforming into a real animal, I think in one point when he is raping Yuka for the bad ending he even says it. In the end he became that which he despised and I agree with you everything has a deeper meaning, this novel to me was like reading a

psychology and sociology book that wasnt ashamed to show exactly how the people and society are in reality, the whole plot with the cult/religion was amazing!The business dialog was superb too, then again I can't give it a perfect score because of all the raping, one thing is to make the reader feel what it's to be like in that situation but another one is to recreate something like that just for fanservice(I'm no 100% but i bet it was)

 

Btw do you know any other vn like this one?

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Btw do you know any other vn like this one?

 

Ever17 is probably the closest you're going to get, here is a review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtuCJAdXNyg

 

I suppose 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors is also kind of similar. Both of these visual novels are common in that they are are survivalist stories. However, in terms of a visual novel that brilliantly mixes great writing with philosophy, and psychology; I have yet to find a visual novel as amazing as Swan Song. Don't get me wrong, Ever17 and 999 are both good visual novels and I highly recommend them, but in my opinion Swan Song is better. 

 

However, I haven't played every English translated Visual novel yet, so there might be a masterpiece as good as Swan Song that I'm missing out on.  

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Ever17 is probably the closest you're going to get, here is a review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtuCJAdXNyg

 

I suppose 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors is also kind of similar. Both of these visual novels are common in that they are are survivalist stories. However, in terms of a visual novel that brilliantly mixes great writing with philosophy, and psychology; I have yet to find a visual novel as amazing as Swan Song. Don't get me wrong, Ever17 and 999 are both good visual novels and I highly recommend them, but in my opinion Swan Song is better. 

 

However, I haven't played every English translated Visual novel yet, so there might be a masterpiece as good as Swan Song that I'm missing out on.  

I will try ever 17 them, it's one of the best rated games on vndb too. Thanks!

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  • 11 months later...

So i just finished the good end of the story... But i dont really get the significance of it.

there are 2 main things that i dont understand:

1) how does Yuka feel towards Tsukasa at the end of the good ending?

We vaguely know that she likes him at the end of the common route, but the good end didnt convey any of Yuka's affection towards Tsukasa AT ALL... So i am pretty confused at how she actually feels.

 

2) what will happen to Aroe?

I wanted to find out about the mysterious Aroe the most, and was hoping that the good/true end will allow me to know more about her. But there's only a brief description of her visiting her house where her sister passed away. I know that she did the mourning and all but it was followed up by the religious cult bull, does she really understand the significance of a person's death at the end? Or was that scene just added for fun?

 

thats it for my opinion on the good/true end of the game, will really appreciate it if someone can give me an explanation or share their opinion ?

Edited by Fuyonoko
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  • 2 years later...
On 23/11/2015 at 2:29 PM, Fuyonoko said:

So i just finished the good end of the story... But i dont really get the significance of it.

there are 2 main things that i dont understand:

1) how does Yuka feel towards Tsukasa at the end of the good ending?

We vaguely know that she likes him at the end of the common route, but the good end didnt convey any of Yuka's affection towards Tsukasa AT ALL... So i am pretty confused at how she actually feels.

 

2) what will happen to Aroe?

I wanted to find out about the mysterious Aroe the most, and was hoping that the good/true end will allow me to know more about her. But there's only a brief description of her visiting her house where her sister passed away. I know that she did the mourning and all but it was followed up by the religious cult bull, does she really understand the significance of a person's death at the end? Or was that scene just added for fun?

 

thats it for my opinion on the good/true end of the game, will really appreciate it if someone can give me an explanation or share their opinion ?

 

Bummer that the romance doesn't develop. The VN sets it up and then just apparently discarded. Such a shame.. Interest in finishing vn drastically reduced. I know it's not really a romance novel, but when pairs are introduced and feelings are shared, then i think it adds a good flavour almost regardless what vn it is, or anime or manga..

Edited by Stormwolf
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