The Blurb
Flowers: Le volume sur printemps (AKA Flowers: Spring Volume) is a yuri game set in an all-girls catholic school. You play as Shirahane Suou, a shy girl who has come to the school seeking friendship. You see, she has heard that at this school a certain system exists that pairs up girls who are in the same year. With a system such as this, even an introvert like Suou can surely make at least one true friend! Or, so she hopes...
The Brood
Let's introduce our three main characters:
Suou is an introverted bookworm who has been homeschooled most of her life. Her lack of interaction with others her age has crippled her socially, and her one experience attempting to attend a normal school was a disaster. On the plus side, she has striking good looks that earn her easy praise from all around her, and when it comes to anything nerdy, including such things as fantasy novels and horror movies, she is quite knowledgeable. She's also got the mind of a detective, but we'll get to that bizarrely out-of-place addition later on.
Mayuri is a cool beauty whose laid-back attitude makes her an instant hit in the classroom. She is a bit of a tomboy, and sometimes she takes things perhaps a bit TOO easy, but it's also clear that there are times when her sunny smile is just for show...
Rika is the class president, and has a very mature, lady-like personality. She is very concerned with making sure everyone obeys the school rules, but even more concerned with making sure everyone in the class gets along. She is a mediator and defuser of situations, though perhaps she is too quick to help others, and not quick enough to find help for herself...
I am only covering characters here who have routes in the game, though I will say that the supporting cast is full of great characters who I hope to see more of in later games in this series.
Anywho, on with the review.
The Good
The writing in this game is very good. The feels are for reals. As you watch Suou change and grow through her experiences, and as you see the many, many layers of each character being peeled away, revealing lifelike complexity and multi-faceted personalities, you can't help but feel that you are one of these girls, going through these things with your dear friends. The emotional scenes strike home very hard, and I found myself teary-eyed multiple times on both of the routes.
The music, though sparse, is very good. Especially during the opening scenes, music is used in an almost sound-novel like manner to emphasize the scenes. One song blends into another in a kind of crescendo that really sends a thrill through you as you go through the prologue. While I wish there would have been more tracks and a few more cases where music was used to great effect like in the prologue, what is there is effective (though you will get tired of the one or two 'everyday' tracks that play almost constantly when there isn't another special song to play).
The CG is... excellent. Absolutely amazing. I've seen good CG in VNs before, but I've never felt as much like I really wanted to collect each one as I have in this game. Normally in non-H games CG seems to serve very little purpose except emphasizing certain scenes, but in this game the CGs are definitely rewards worth striving for.
Just... AHH! And they're all like that!
The Bad
This game appears to be low budget. There are a few reasons why I feel this way. First, there are maybe like 10 music tracks. It's seriously hilariously bad how often they force you to listen to the 'everyday' music. I mean yeah I realize it's the theme meant to represent your everyday life at the school but it plays for 90% of the game, I kid you not. No matter how much you like it at first you will get sick and tired of it before you pass the halfway point. Second, every character has all of two poses and maybe 2 changes of clothing (with the same poses for the changes). It's bad. Especially when the text describes a character doing something they are obviously not doing. Also, for certain characters (who I will get to in a moment) the poses given them are good for basically none of the emotions they actually want to show. Now, I realize we're probably going to get more costumes in later games and that this is meant to be the first of probably 4 games (one for each season, the 2nd one is already out), but that's still no excuse to only have 2 poses. That's just sad.
But a low budget can be forgiven. What can't be forgiven is the absolutely bizarrely bad character design. I want you take a look at these two characters:
When I first met these two I was convinced they were going to be the villains; bullies that spread bad rumors about me or something. They don't look like friendly, puppy-like little sister characters who act in huggable adorable ways. Except that's the role they actually play in the game. Their voices are also adorable and don't fit the images they were given at all. In fact, even in CG they look completely different from their normal sprites:
See? HERE they look like cute little kids, which is what they act like. If they had expressions like these on their sprites I could probably forgive the narrow necks and angular faces, but they have all of 2 expressions they can give and neither of them are cute! I don't know what the sprite artist thought he was drawing, but he and the CG artist (I can only assume for my own sanity that they were different people) obviously got mixed signals.
Also, the writer gets hung up on his own cliches way too often. This is mainly targeted at two characters, one of whom we are constantly told has a 'smile like a patch of spring sunlight' and another has a 'teasing, catty smile'. Which, I mean yeah that works for description, but we are literally told this about those two characters CONSTANTLY. There are seriously times with the latter character in which she has the cat smile multiple times in the same scene. If you take a drink every time that character is likened to a cat you will be drunk by the end of your first meeting with her in the story. It's ridiculous and a small failing on the part of the writer.
And, my final complaint (well, for the Bad section... I've got one or two for the Ugly) is that one of the two endings is a horrible sequel-baiting cliffhanger. I mean I should have expected that from a game that appears to be the first in a series of possibly 4 games, but it was still a low blow. A serious punch in the gut, especially because I was so emotionally invested in the characters.
The Sad
I've got to say the saddest thing for me (besides the stupid cliffhanger sequel-bait ending for one of the routes) was honestly the character design fail I mentioned above. I really loved those two characters and I feel that the designers really dropped the ball on making their sprites, and now they're just going to re-use those sprites for every subsequent game in the series so it's never going to get better. If this was a novel, without visuals, I never would have pictured those two looking like they do, not in a million years. All I can do is look forward to the CG, in which they are actually drawn correctly.
The Mad
The mysteries in this game made me mad, but we'll get to why and how in The Ugly, because they were that bad.
The Fad
Gahh! Everyone's wearing the same thing all the time! Even in their pajamas everyone looks fairly similar. Happily there is at least one costume that stands out during the game:
Just. Yeah. You can feel the power of the prayer. I wonder what's going on in this scene? Guess you'd better read the VN and find out!
The Rad
There is a scene where Suou and two other girls are up at night in the library of the school and they decide to tell ghost stories to each other. The stories are great chillers and, even though they're not meant to be terrifying or horrific, they hit just the right notes to send some shivers up your spine. There are even special CG just for that scene to add to the spookiness with images. It's a great scene and it felt like a kind of bonus, since the plot of the game itself has basically nothing to do with the paranormal. Definitely my pick for the raddest scene.
The Snuggly
The two girls mentioned earlier could have been this if their character designs had been handled a bit better. I still liked them in the CG, but it just wasn't enough. Sadly I must say that this game really does not have a sufficient level of cuteness, so moe fans should stay far away.
The Whaaaa-gly
The mysteries, again, were bizarre and stupid and horrible but again we'll get to that in a bit.
The Pugly
There were neither animals nor pet-like characters in this title so there's nothing to discuss.
The Smugly
Also, no villains. Skip!
The Ugly
The mysteries in this game are stupid.
Bizarrely so.
I thought Innocent Grey was sort of known for making psychological thriller stories, so you'd think they would know their way around writing a good mystery, but in Flowers it is quite the opposite. Firstly, I don't think this game even needed the shoehorned-in mysteries that mainly just act as barriers during the story. Failing one causes you to get a bad ending and, in fact, that's basically the only way to get a bad ending. I won't even say I didn't like them because of how difficult they were. I think if you carefully read all the text leading up to the mysteries (and by this I mean ALL the text, on both routes leading up to the mystery) you would probably have a good chance at guessing the correct answer. Even failing that, you can save and just guess and check easily enough.
The problem is that the mysteries make no sense IN CONTEXT. While it's simple for you as the player to pick from the small selection of answers given to you, there are several moments when I felt like there was no possible way the characters in the game could have made the logical leaps necessary to arrive at the conclusions they do. Not only that, but the ways in which the mysteries are set up are incredibly contrived and make it clear that the mysteries were apparently added in either as an afterthought, or because Innocent Grey felt they couldn't write a story without having some element of mystery in it.
Characters say or do things no one in their position would say or do, people jump to bizarre conclusions based on little to no evidence, events line up perfectly so that some obscure bit of knowledge the characters just happen to be talking about ends up being the key point to solving a mystery that happens a few days later that, for all intents and purposes, should have absolutely nothing to do with that obscure bit of knowledge.
The only mystery that felt like it actually fit into the plot and was well made was also the most idiotically obvious one, with the answer being painfully clear almost before the mystery even begins.
When I first heard about this game a lot of the rumors said it would have mystery elements or might have a darker side due to Innocent Grey's influence. Instead what I found is that it was an amazingly emotionally complex yuri story with the most out of place, dumb obscure-fact riddles thrust in as checkpoints that made no sense in-universe.
The Verdict
It's easy to set aside the stupid mysteries and the low-budget quality hiccups in light of the amazing, emotional writing. This is a great yuri story, and the start of a great yuri series. The experience isn't too long, and it will leave any player hungry for the next game. I think it may be early to give a final verdict before the whole series is available to look at as a whole, but as a beginning it definitely has me sold on wanting to know more about these characters and what's in store next for them. Avoid it if you're not into yuri or games that are severely lacking in moe, but anyone else should pick this up and enjoy this short, bitter-sweet tale.
The Blurb
Aiyoku no Eustia: Angel's Blessing is the all-ages port of Aiyoku no Eustia. In it, you take on the role of Caim, a street-smart, pragmatic ex-assassin who is currently hired by a local gang to mainly be a bouncer at their headquarters/cathouse. The plot, full of fantasy intrigue and mystery, will take Caim all over the small kingdom from the depths of the slums to the holy temple and even the great castle itself. The game boasts 4 routes and a prologue that would put Robert Jordan to shame.
The Good
There are many things Eustia got very right.
First, the setting and plot. In fact, it is obvious that this was the focus of the game, rather than the girls. Each girl`s story was meant as a stepping-stone to uncovering all the secrets of the fantastical fantasy world of Eustia. From the very first instant of the game the player is bombarded with heaping helpings of atmosphere and flavor. Beautiful backgrounds, atmospheric music and excellent SFX bring the vibrant world to life. I was especially impressed by how realistic the crowd noises were. Each scene with a crowd had a different set of murmurs, shouts, and other assorted voices. They weren`t looped either! Everything really just came together to suck me in to this amazingly intricate world they had created. From the first moment the main point of the game is not to win the girls, but to delve deep into the mysteries of the world these characters live in.
The characters (aside from one) also help set this game apart. Since the main focus is on the plot and mystery, the girls are more than just cliché fetish-pandering. Instead each girl has a very specific and obvious part to play in the overall plot. They are written well because they are meant to be actual characters in a fantasy epic, not harem-additions for the player to ogle. Nothing makes this more apparent than the fact that the story can only progress if you DON`T chase after a girl`s route. Ending up with a girl means the story ends with no real conclusion to the various threads and mysteries of the plot. The game cannot advance if the player decides to end it and settle down with a girl. It is quite the opposite of many other VNs where ending up with one of the girls is the goal. Anyway, since their purpose is not to attract the player to their ending, the girls instead are written as interesting characters with lots of depth. Let`s take a look at them:
Eustia – Is… you know what? We`ll get to her in one of the other sections.
Fione – The stalwart knight type. She is the young commander of the local Wing Hunters (tl?), and is honored by the weight of the position she bears. She stands unflinching in the face of prejudice from the residents of the slum and the less-than-honorable actions of some of her subordinates. She won`t back down from any job, no matter how dirty, dangerous or dubious, as long as she is doing it to protect the peace of the kingdom. As the story progresses, her faith in the kingdom she protects will be put to the test again and again, but a leader of men cannot falter, and Fione is a born leader.
Eris – An ex-prostitute purchased by Caim. She acts as a medic in the slums, though she only seems really interested in treating Caim. She snaps at any girl that gets close to him and is extremely jealous of his ex-lovers. Though it seems her obsession sometimes approaches dangerous levels, she does have her own dreams; perhaps even a few that don`t involve Caim. If only she and Caim could understand what lies in each other`s hearts.
Saint Irene & Lavria – The current saint whose prayers hold the kingdom aloft in the sky, and her long-time friend and current maid. Irene is prim and proper and used to being obeyed. She has a stubborn streak a mile wide and becomes very upset when things don`t go the way she wants them to. Lavi stands as a kind of barrier between Irene and others, trying to lessen the damage caused by Irene`s selfish temper. The two seem to have a deep bond developed by a shared past, but recently it seems Irene has come to doubt Lavi`s devotion, among other things. Though their friendship may be shaken, what can never be shaken is the faith the two have. Though others may not understand it, the light of belief burns bright in the two, enough so to perhaps lead some lost souls out of the dark as the situation in the kingdom begins to turn sour.
Licia – The young princess who has been left in charge of the kingdom ever since her father, the king, fell ill. She remembers very little of her father, but she tries to live according to the few words from him she has left in her memory. Unfortunately she is seriously sheltered from the real outside world. In her childish mind she believes that dressing up like a maid and doing a few chores will teach her all she needs to know about the way the lower class lives. She trusts everything the nobles in the castle tell her, and is especially attentive to the chancellor, who is almost like a second father to her. Only the captain of the guard seems interested in raising her to be a good monarch, though she chafes under his strict guidance. Despite being in the perfect position to be an uncaring brat, she has a good heart and really does love her kingdom. If only someone could open her eyes to the sad reality being hidden from her.
The sub-characters are great as well, each one adding quite a bit to the story. By the end of the game every character has played their part, with every thread coming together in an amazing whole.
While the mystery and twists themselves may be quite obvious to some players, the strength of the writing in this game is in the fact that it doesn`t matter if you figure things out from the get-go. The revelations, when they come, are usually quite obvious if you pay attention to the story. But the key is the emotional impact the revelations have on the characters. Because the characters are well-written you care when they care. You want to see the mysteries resolved not because the answer itself bothers you, but because you want to see how Caim and the gang will deal with the huge, earth-shaking bombshells the plot drops.
All this is helped even more by an excellent pace, which keeps things edgy and progressing quickly from the very first scene of the game.
So I would say the very best thing about this game is how everything; the writing, the characters, the backgrounds, the music, the SFX, the plot, the setting, the route structure… EVERYTHING comes together to make a very complete, solid fantasy tale that is easy to get sucked into and enjoy.
The Bad
So let`s talk about what they didn`t get right. There are just a few things, with one of them being bad enough that I`m going to relegate it to The Ugly section and leave it for the end.
And of course you can take this with a grain of salt. Though I personally didn`t like these things, that doesn`t mean that they are universally and objectively `bad`. I just thought they were.
First is the endings. All of them aside from the True Ending, of course. Basically the game is structured so that there is a single, common route. The common route is broken up into chapters, each one dedicated to one of the girls. During a girl`s chapter you will eventually be given a choice which will determine whether you continue on to the next chapter or stop progressing to settle down with that girl.
The problem is, stopping in the middle of the mystery with tons of unresolved plot threads doesn`t seem like a very good ending to me. It literally feels like Caim is turning his back on everyone else who is having trouble and saying `forget you, got mine`. In many of the endings the player is given hand-wavy wrap-ups that just don`t make sense. In fact, the further you get into the game the less sense the earlier endings will make.
I was expecting the endings to be more along the lines of `And then Caim and the girl continued investigating the mysteries of their world together` but instead they were more `And then Caim and the girl stopped caring and settled down to live happily ever after`. They`re bizarrely upbeat and feel kind of tacked-on, since it`s obvious you`re intended to blow off the good endings and press forward in the plot. I guess the best way to put it is that these endings don`t really seem like good endings, but rather arbitrary stopping points shoved in so that people playing the adult version could see the H scenes. In an all-ages version they were just strangely out-of-place fairy-tale endings that I only glanced at for completions sake before diving right back in to the actual story.
Another thing they do wrong is trumpets. Yeah, simple thing. All the songs that have trumpets in them tend to be pretty bad. I recommend not listening to them with headphones on, since they hit what I think is pretty close to some brown notes and I can`t guarantee you`ll come away with clean pants. Considering how great all the rest of the music is in the game, the trumpet songs stand out quite starkly. Sad, since one of them is the theme of one of my favorite sub-characters.
Finally, the second opening and ending are crap. The second opening is a bunch of boring panning around with a few quotes and stuff. I`m not sure what mood they were trying to evoke with it, but it just came across as boring and uninspired. What were they going for? The final ending was equally bad, and I wished they had just used the same ending from the rest of the game. Sadly, the bad opening and ending were just sort of par for the course for the final route, but we`ll get to that later. For now let`s just chalk these up as another bad decision.
The Sad
There are a few things that made me really sad during this game.
First is the characters who don`t make it to the end. Obviously it`s not bad to off a character as part of a dramatic plot. I don`t blame them for doing so, but that doesn`t make it easier to face the fact that some of these excellently crafted personalities won`t be around for the whole game. I guess you could even count this as a good thing, since you really feel it when these characters are gone.
Second is one specific story element. Basically to keep going in the plot you need to make choices to avoid getting any of the girls` endings. At one point this involves saying some very mean things to one of the girls (for her own good of course) for which she never really forgives you. Though most of the rest of the girls are okay with being turned down at the end, that one girl really does act cold and distant for the rest of the story because of the things Caim says. I really liked her, so I was really sad at how things ended up with her.
The Mad
See `The Ugly`. In this game, the worst element of it was also the element that made me the most upset.
The Fad
Let`s take a look at my favorite costumes from the game:
Ooo, rockin` that trench coat. Definitely got that assassin vibe down pat.
I`m not the kind of guy who calls other guys hot all the time, but man he is hot. There really should have been a route where him and Caim get together. Bromance my brothers, can I get an amen?
The Rad
The fights in this game are pretty awesome. Though very little happens on screen besides a few simple swiping animations, reading them will definitely get your heart pumping. Most of the fights in the story are between very evenly-matched opponents and there is often more on the line than just the fighters` lives. I would love to see an anime adaptation of this series if only to see the awesome fight scenes in motion.
The Snuggly
Licia, during her private moments when she can stop being the commanding princess for a while, is really cute. Her `whatchu talkin` bout?` face is absolutely adorable, and really peels back the regal exterior to show you her pure, youthful, curious side. August has always had very distinct character design, and I`d say they should be in no hurry to change it, as the expressions for all the characters in this game were very impressive. But, the snuggliest was definitely the little princess.
The Whaaaa-gly
Though many of the more confusing parts of the story are explained by the end, there are still a few things about the setting as a whole that I have trouble figuring out even now in hindsight. Without getting in too deep and spoiling anything, I`m not sure the explanation given for why exactly the world is in the state it is in was quite sufficient. To be a bit more specific it`s not the kingdom where everyone currently lives that confuses me but the world in general that weirds me out.
Also the birth-story of one of the characters is shrouded in mystery and you can really only figure it out if you read between the lines, but even then it`s still pretty bizarre and never really confirmed explicitly in the text. I guess it wouldn`t be fun if they spelled out every little thing for you, but the two things mentioned aren`t exactly small things.
Then again, maybe these things were explained and I just missed it. Full disclosure: I`m not 100% confident in my Japanese reading, and I did skip large chunks of the final chapter due to reasons I will explain below. The explanations COULD have been hidden there, but I don`t remember them coming up in my skimming through those sections.
The Pugly
No animal mascots or other creatures to talk about this time around! Actually, can we call Eustia the animal mascot? I feel like we should. Let`s do that. Eustia is a horrible animal mascot because she is a girl not a dog. She should have been a dog. Then she would have made a much better animal mascot.
The Smugly
Let`s talk about the bad guys.
The bad guys in this game are great!
Seriously, aside from some minor idiots early on the major villains of the plot are just awesome. I love villains who are written so that you can sympathize with their point of view. You know why they`re doing the bad things they`re doing. It`s not that they`re just inherently evil and want to do evil for evil`s sake. No they have their motives, and the motives make sense. They just happen to be at cross-purposes with the protagonists, or perhaps they are letting the ends justify the means a bit too much.
Anyway, the main villains are written so well that I often found myself agreeing with them on many points. The last chapter is an especially interesting point at which `good` and `bad` are thrown to the roadside and everyone is just doing things for reasons they believe are correct and just.
Of course, the villains aren`t perfect. The first few you meet are just goons, motivated by petty, selfish character flaws. Even the later villains sometimes sink to moustache-twirling, but for the most part it is easy to see where they are coming from, especially when looking back at the story as a whole from the ending.
The Ugly
I really don`t like Eustia. She started as an enigma, became an annoyance, then basically checked herself out of the plot and was relegated to being a running-joke sub-character for a while, then came back for her own chapter, the last chapter, to be the cause of everything that made the last chapter the ugliest, most rage-inducing part of this game.
Eustia is not poorly written, let`s get that out of the way first. She is a very realistic type of character. Sadly she is written based on a very, very annoying subset of humanity. It took me a while of thinking to finally put my finger on what kind of person Eustia reminded me of the most, but then suddenly it came to me.
Eustia is like a social-networking drama queen. That`s what she is. She`s the type of girl that would make ambiguous, passive-aggressive `*sigh* some days I don`t even know why I try` posts, only to say `oh it`s nothing, don`t worry about me` when her friends try to ask her what`s wrong. She always has a `positive` face so that people will praise her for how strong she is in the face of the great adversity she is obviously facing, considering all the depressed comments she makes. When drama happens, such as someone calling her out on her BS, she expects white knights to come to her aid so that she never has to act like anything other than the martyr (and yet still win the argument vicariously). At the same time she has to be the greatest sufferer and the one with the greatest destiny in the room. That`s Eustia. No seriously that`s exactly how she is.
During the last chapter there is literally a part where she`s hurting and Caim is like `let me help you` and she`s like `no I`m fine I`ll be strong for everyone`s sake *brave smile*` and then when Caim doesn`t speak up to stop the suffering for her she gets depressed because Caim wouldn`t speak up in her behalf despite HER HERSELF not speaking up and, in fact, showing no sign that she wanted to be rescued from her situation. No! Bad! You don`t get to be sad because someone won`t white knight for you when you told them not to! You don`t get to play up your whole martyr angle and then expect people to save you from the fate you yourself have obviously been wishing for all this time! You do not get to have your cake and eat it too!
Now some might think that Eustia really is just an innocent girl who believes in her own big destiny and doesn`t want anyone to suffer so she`s willing to suffer for them. I`m sure whoever wrote the last chapter expected the player to feel that way. Too bad one of the first scenes early in the game where we see inside Eustia`s mind reveal that she is fully capable of assessing her situation and using her own pathetic image to manipulate people. She KNOWS the effect her `oh woe is me` BS has on people and she uses it to protect herself. Now obviously this is a legit defense mechanism and is totally understandable, but once you`ve revealed that she is capable of faking and manipulating it kind of makes any emotion she shows have less impact.
It becomes especially apparent toward the end that Eustia really doesn`t actually care that much about everyone else. She gets sad when Caim doesn`t stop her suffering because obviously she was only suffering to win Caim`s sympathy. When she thinks Caim has stopped caring about her, she basically just goes `well, not like anyone else matters`.
During most of the middle portion of the game Eustia is treated like a puppy that keeps sticking its nose into everyone`s business when it isn`t welcome. Most of the time she misinterprets situations and is told to be quiet because she doesn`t know what`s going on, and even when she does know what`s going on she never offers any advice that might be helpful, or insight into the situation. She seriously spends most of the game as a mascot character, being cute in the background while the real characters talk about important matters. Why couldn`t she have been a dog? Why is she considered the `main` girl? Why is this game named after her? Graaah!
Which brings me to the last chapter. I`ve basically revealed most of what makes it bad above, since it`s all about miss-martyr Eustia, but her part in it didn`t make me quite as angry as Caim`s part in it did.
Throughout the game Caim is shown to be a competent and intelligent character. He is kind, in a gruff sort of way, but isn`t so tender-hearted as to ignore the reality of a situation. He knows sacrifices need to be made. He has prejudice and anger in his heart that makes him seem more real. He is decisive and swift to action, not caring what rules or promises he needs to break to get the things done that need to be done. One could say that he doesn`t play by anybody`s rules, but he gets results.
Then in the last chapter he becomes a weak-willed wet-noodle, pushed around by events but taking little to no action himself. This is especially jarring since every other character (except Eustia) is shining their brightest during this chapter. With all the lies and mysteries stripped away, we finally see everyone`s true character in the end. With `good` and `bad` thrown out the window, everyone must simply act as their conscience dictates. We see what is truly important to each and every person in the story, and we can see and judge the actions they take.
… and among all this Caim just sort of mopes around, going from person to person and talking to them but not really doing anything with the situation. His normally entertaining wry banter starts to sound petty and sarcastic as he prods at the people who are actually doing something. He basically waits for someone to tell him what to do, and then does what he`s told only to wallow in self-loathing for the things he is told to do.
Worst of all is the failure in the storytelling of the chapter. It feels almost like an entirely different writer took over for this section, and I wouldn`t be surprised if that was exactly the case. Without spoiling too much, Caim is given a choice that is essentially `Do this or something very bad will happen`. Given everything we know, both Caim and the player have no reason to doubt that the choice was really that black-and-white. There is no hint of a third option. Caim does what he has to do because he HAS to do it. And yet he beats himself up over it, becomes full of self-loathing. It becomes obvious to the player that the writers have a third option in mind, but there has been no hint of it in the story. The writers want Caim to choose an option he didn`t even know it was possible to choose.
To use a spoiler-less example, Caim is on a trapeze. He knows there is no safety net, so obviously he would never think of letting go of the trapeze. Then he starts to think that his arms are getting really tired so he lets go of the trapeze. Miraculously there is a safety net beneath him that he had no idea was there.
While the stakes and circumstances don`t match up with the above example, the crappiness of the writing is the same. Caim`s feelings and actions only make sense in hindsight due to author intervention. Nobody would just let go of a trapeze in mid-flight, believing there was no safety net. It would be idiotic. Caim`s actions were equally idiotic, but lucky for him the author swooped in to make it all turn out alright so Caim`s actions and feelings would retroactively become correct.
For such a realistic and strong character it`s just disgusting to see him become a puppet to the plot and to other characters. By the end I felt like Caim deserved to end up with Eustia and that is a very bad thing. Even though Eustia was given an annoying personality, at least she stayed true to her character as opposed to Caim who just flipped on his plot-puppet switch as soon as the writers needed him to.
The Verdict
Now despite the massive `Ugly` section, don`t get me wrong. This game is great. Even during the last chapter there are tons of good scenes involving all the characters who aren`t Caim or Eustia. It is 100% worth a read. I`m sure there will even be people who find the last chapter enjoyable, and even folks who love Eustia as a cute pseudo-imouto type of thing. Sure. The bottom line is the writing, music, characters, art, etc. are all very solid and even the worst part of the game can still be enjoyed by some readers.
Though everyone might be happier if they just consider Licia`s to be the `true end` and stop playing there
