This is the third game in the series that began with Chuusingura (please don't judge that particular work by the utterly shitty translation). I do highly recommend that you play both Chuusingura and Bushi no Kodou before you play this game, because it is necessary to fully understand some of the events that occur (particularly in the true Hijikata ending).
First, a bit of background about the Bakumatsu period. Essentially, after Admiral Perry forced open Japan with the threat of his cannons, the Bakufu (also known as the Tokugawa Shogunate), was forced to sign the usual set of unequal treaties Western nations forced on Eastern ones with less advanced tech during that period of history. Japan's peculiar double-headed political structure at the time, with the Emperor 'lending' his authority to the Shogun of the time in order to rule Japan and the then-emperor's stated wish for the exclusion of foreigners lent anti-Tokugawa factions and ambitious feudal lords the justification they needed (mostly to convince their followers) to start moving against the Bakufu.
This was made worse when one of these factions succeeded in assassinating Chancellor Ii, who directed the political purges and authoritarian political moves of the Bakufu immediately following Perry's actions. This gave others the idea to do similar things to anyone they saw as supporting the Bakufu, and Kyouto became the center of a bloody series of assassinations of officials and merchants who sided with the existing authority or benefited from foreign contacts.
The Aizu Clan, which was given the authority and rather nasty job of bringing peace to Kyouto, recruited ronin (masterless samurai) in order to form a police force that would capture or execute the other ronin making trouble in the city. This resulted in the formation of the Roushigumi, which later became the Shinsengumi seen in Hakuoki, Peacemaker Kurogane, and the Rurounin Kenshin OVAs (Saitou Hajime in the main series was also a member).
Historically, the Shinsengumi, despite having suffered a number of internal disputes and factional splits in the years leading up to the fall of the Bakufu, were amongst the few who fought to the end against the new government, and Hijikata Toshizou's final death and his death poem are one of the most incredibly romanticized objects amongst samurai-loving weaboos of the classic stripe. Some left-leaning history buffs in Japan blame the romanticization of the Shinsengumi and the characters from Chuusingura for the intense rise in nationalism and insane glorification of samurai culture that occurred leading up to WWII.
Now down to business... it should be stated that this game is about fifteen times more violent than Chuusingura was. The protagonist and other members of the Shinsengumi killed people on a daily basis with swords in broad daylight, and they don't really hold back when it comes to portraying that.
This game is also just as long as Chusingura (maybe slightly longer) was, despite being essentially one long path for most of its length (with about a third of it devoted to individual paths). This is because the story covers about six years worth of chaotic events, both political and personal. Going into this game with a full knowledge of the fates of the Shinsengumi members, I couldn't help but wish some of their fates would be changed (hint: of the original membership, only Saitou Hajime and Shinpachi live to see old age), and there are a lot of characters I honestly wept for... no matter what game I see him/her in, Sakamoto Ryouma is always an admirable character and seeing the pointless deaths of a number of clear-eyed individuals with an eye toward the future is just as bad. However, this game follows history to the end in the Hijikata path and for most of the game otherwise... and while the Shinsengumi might be cultural icons now, their lives were colored with blood and tragedy.
There are four main paths, three side-paths (paths for heroines that die or are otherwise separated from the main cast for some reason), and one true path (Hijikata Ending 2). The main paths include Okita Souji, Kondou Isami, Hajime Saitou, and Hijikata Toshizou. Okita's path... well, if you've seen any of the many anime (except Gintama) where he pops up, you'll know what I mean when I say it ends on a sad and somewhat empty note. Kondou Isami's path is marginally better (if you know about Kondou's historic fate, it is nice to see it changed). Saitou's path is significantly better and more detailed, as are the three side-paths (which is somewhat ironic). Hijikata's paths are, of course, the most complete-feeling and satisfying, though the first one left me in tears for a solid ten minutes.
This game does have some major flaws... there was an obvious history buff's obsession with detail when it came to portraying a lot of the historical events involved, and that aspect could start to feel interminable in the space between the story's main turning point and the heroine paths. However, I found myself willing to forgive that flaw in the end.
Overall, this was an excellent story, and it takes relatively few liberties with history (beyond feminization of historical figures), which is unusual in Shinsengumi portrayals. The most unusual aspect of the game (the protagonist's ability) was mostly a dormant issue for the greater part of the game, so it often left me with a nice illusion that I was seeing through the eyes of a real Shinsengumi member.
I was surprised at one revelation in the true ending, though...
Understand, I loved the Baldr series, before Heart... even Heart still retained a lot of what was great about the series, though it placed too much emphasis on the less interesting elements. The Baldr series is literally Giga's only good IP, and as such, it is the only reason I even bother with this company.
Unfortunately, it looks like Giga has set out to destroy its costly but greatest IP, ending it on a sour note.
Baldr Bringer, from what I have played of it, has very little story in comparison to the amount of battling you do. I have so far spent twelve hours in battle and a bare thirty minutes of storytelling. Moreover, most of that thirty minutes were meaningless conversations with the flat, two-dimensional heroines who are partial copies of people from the various game settings of previous games of the series (Elmi is from Zero's world, Carol is from Force's world, and Toiro is from the Heart setting).
Worse is that the only part that has felt like story so far is the very first part, where Hyuji is waking up and meets Eris.
Like all the games in this series, the battles take a lot out of you, because they are fast paced bullet hells... without the lock-on function of previous games. Without the lock on function, the controls become excessively complex, and the slow movement of your mech makes it even worse (literally, you are moving at a slow walk the entire time). Moreover, in order to progress heroine events, the solution is to kill enemies with the weapon they are associated with... a task that can be painfully time-consuming, depending on the weapon.
I'm going to be blunt, Giga went all-out in order to disappoint the fanbase here. It had to have been deliberate, because Giga knows very well what people seek from the series. The interface is junk, you only have the auto-save function, and choices only serve to create slightly different conversation flows.
In other words, as a VN, this is undeniably a kusoge. It requires too much battle time to reach sparse story segments that generally last less than a minute each, and then you get tossed right back onto the battlefield. In previous games, the ratio was a lot more even, with story segments often going on for hours, depending on what kind they were.
Edit: To be a bit clearer, the original Baldr battle system, in its final form as seen in Baldr Heart, is something like a beat-em-up with fighting game combos, guns and cool OP special attacks. While it is easy to play, it is far deeper than it seems on the surface, requiring high levels of player skills to beat the most powerful bosses on normal and masterful skills to beat any of the bosses on the harder difficulties. The sheer variety of potential combos based on what moves and weapons you have stickied to the buttons made it fun to play, in and of itself. The system seen in Baldr Bringer is greatly simplified, with you basically equipping one main firearm, one back weapon, and one close-ranged weapon. Instead of overheating when you use too many moves in a row, you run out of ammo if you use the same weapon too much... but firearms can be recharged just by using the close-range weapons. There is no lock-on, but the system as a whole is basically a third-person, top-down shooter.
Unfortunately, in order to make that manageable, both your speed and the speed of your enemies is greatly reduced from what you would have seen in Heart or Sky, and as a result, you end up fighting long running battles that extend across multiple maps, taking far more time than is reasonable for a VN hybrid. I'd say that the average series of battles in Bringer takes about seven times as long as a series of battles in Heart or Sky. As a result, you end up spending massive amounts of time fighting, to be rewarded with relatively little, considering the lack of a strong ongoing story.
Edit2: One of the biggest problems with this game, besides the overwhelming amount of gameplay, was the way they handled heroine interactions (let's set aside issues with how two-dimensional the heroines are in the first place). Heroine interactions can be chosen at any point of the game if you have the necessary level with their associated weapon type. Linking the affections of the heroines to weapon experience is, in and of itself, annoying, seeing as firearms in general take longer to level up than close-range weapons. However, even more annoying is the way heroine interactions have no place within the story itself. This 'un-moored romance' leads to even more disconnect with the story aspects mentally and emotionally, and as a whole, makes it feel irrelevant. I managed to get up to the eighth event with Carol (not a hard task, considering how fast the knife levels up) before I dropped the game, and the disconnect only gets worse the more you progress with an individual heroine. Overall, the whole thing feels like a regression, even compared to charage. It feels like the tacked-on romances of some jrpgs that experimented with the like back in the middle of the previous decade, where it was somewhat less than satisfying for similar reasons.
I'm going to be blunt... this game is badly overrated on vndb. I was - quite frankly - amazed at how poorly the story was told... it was like looking at a bunch of disorganized pictures set on a wall and trying to make an actual story out of them. The protagonist is your classic cipher for the reader, and the female characters basically exist to have random sex with the protagonist. The actual battle system is nowhere near as refined as it was even in Force, despite the fact that Revellion is a remake version that should have logically seen an upgrade there in addition to the major visual upgrade it got.
While I see hints of brilliance here and there, this game fails miserably at getting you to care about what is going on, mostly due to a lack of emotional investment in the characters in general. Quite frankly, I'm regretting my purchase of this game. They upgraded the character designs to Baldr Skydive levels... but they failed to revamp the story, which really needed it. It is also unbelievably short, which is probably why it failed so badly to get you to care about what was going on.
Well... first, I should say that Baldr Force EXE was the thirty-fifth untranslated VN I played. At the time, I didn't have a controller, and I ended up suffering from horrible wrist pain from playing using the keyboard. So my first piece of advice to anyone trying to play this game is to get a controller (most are compatible) that you are comfortable using. This shares basic gameplay with Baldr Skydive, though that game's battle system is quite a bit more advanced. As such, feel free to search my Random VN Thread for my comments on it, lol. It is an action-based system where you use three attack buttons in combination with being at short or long range, dashing, or sprinting (short dash) to combo up to twelve different attacks ranging from fist strikes and submachine guns (you'll use the submachinegun attack throughout the game, because of its utility) to beam bazookas and landmines.
The actual story of this game is very different from what you'd expect from a similar VN today, simply because the choice of characters is different from what most modern readers have grown to expect. There is very little of the 'manzai' comedic byplay that is common to almost every VN made after 2006, and there are bad endings and horrible things that happen to the heroines just in the normal course of the route. While bad endings in themselves aren't rare, ones with story as extensive as these are a bit rare, lol.
This VN's art quality is probably about the best you'll see in any VN from the same era. The CGs, the tachie, and the backgrounds are all about as detailed as you can expect from a VN made around the turn of the century, and all the characters are well-differentiated from each other (though the designs are familiar from various anime that ran before or around the same time).
The musical quality is pretty high... no generic tracks here, though there are remixes of them in later Baldr games. Voices are a bit (quite a bit in some cases) less professional or more grainy than you'll have grown used to with modern VNs, though it isn't so bad as to break the experience.
The protagonist is a young hacker who is a typical rebellious youth who ends up caught in a nasty situation through his own stupid actions. If you know basic tactics, you'll frequently find yourself facepalming early on because of the sheer stupidity of some of the things he does. Nonetheless, compared to the hetare or 'normal' protagonists that are common to most VNs, he is a definite improvement.
There are a total of six heroines: Minori, Ayane, Ryian, Tsukina, Hikaru, and Ren. The route order is locked in stone, with you having to play Minori and Ayane, followed by Ryian and Tsukina, followed by Hikaru, then finally Ren as the 'true' heroine. Each heroine has multiple endings (one sad/bad one good at the very least) and a strong individual route that splits off at some point from the main route. Tsukina's route splits off the earliest, almost at the very beginning, whereas most of the other paths (except Ren's) split off about halfway through the game. This leads to lots of separate events with each heroine - none of them pointless. Just to warn you, like all Baldr games, the setting and story are fairly dark, so don't go in expecting rays of sunshine.
If I were asked which - besides Ren's - stood out the most, I would say Ryian's or Tsukina's stood out the most. Both paths follow unique progression that puts you through an experience almost completely unconnected with the others in general flow. Ryian's is perhaps the hardest emotionally, whereas Renn's is by far the hardest in terms of gameplay.
My overall thoughts on the game generally focus on the simple fact that going through six heroine paths in a VN with gameplay is frigging exhausting. Not only that, but there is a definite feeling of information overload afterward... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Nonetheless, the actual raw story is very well-written, if in a convention many newer VN readers won't be accustomed to. At the same time, the scenario design is of the highest quality... reminding me why Giga should never be allowed to make VNs outside the Baldr series, since it makes their normal works look like crap.
Now, for those who are wondering, the reason I chose to play Baldr Heart first is fairly simple... it is the VN most anticipated this month, at least by the people I talk to. Baldr Heart is the fourth game (if you count the Skydive and Zero games as a single game each) in the 'primary series' started with Baldr Force. This series follows the evolving interrelations between humans, the net, extreme VR, and AIs, storywise. The gameplay in all the games is a relatively fast-paced battle mech action system that evolves a lot of explosions and bullets flying. Except for Zero, the series retains a pixelated appearance that is reminscent of the ps2 or psx eras for its gameplay. The series tends to be heavy on the dystopian elements, as well as transhumanism. Zero's setting in particular is horrifyingly dystopian, with children selling reservations for their own body parts and dismemberment videos in advance to strangers on the streets.
Baldr Heart doesn't go that far... though it definitely strays into the area of mad science. I can't really say a whole lot about the setting without spoiling Skydive and Zero, sadly. This game is based 200 years after those games and the events in them are the base upon which the entirety of the society in Baldr Heart is constructed.
Now, I feel a need to address the biggest complaint from those who were looking at this game. The fact that most of the characters are students... a definite divergence, as the series has in the past had most of its main characters in their early to mid-twenties, save for a few rare exceptions. That fact is one of the series' main attractions for many readers, as many VN fans go to the Baldr series specifically to escape the slice-of-life-in-a-school-setting that plagues most VNs. So, in the eyes of many fans of the Baldr series, this was a huge betrayal... or at least a turn-off.
Typical of a Baldr game, this element, that would normally have been a simple way to dumb it down for the 'mainstream' (as so many readers name it contemptuously) is actually used to accentuate the sharp differences between the Baldr world and the modern Japanese settings of most normal VNs. While it is true that Sou isn't as bitter and broken as a lot of Baldr protagonists either begin as or end up, he nonetheless has his own share of horrifying experiences in his past, and he has taken lives in combat before. He is a mercenary who returns to his homeland after receiving a brain injury trying to save a young girl trapped in the net.
There is a play order to this game... Tsukuyomi>Mao>Yuri>Nagi. With each successive path, more of the game's mystery is revealed, until you reach the core of things in Nagi's path. I'm going to be blunt... if you thought Yuri's path was a bit screwy, Nagi's is even twistier. The Baldr series loves its mindfuck plot twists filled with pseudo-science and philosophy, and in that sense, this is the Baldr series at its best. However, this story structure means that Tsukuyomi's path, in particular, is fairly unsatisfying since it reveals next to nothing about what happened in the past or what is going on during the story. I also felt that the game fell back on emotionalism a bit too often for my tastes... while it almost always comes down to that in any given Japanese game, I honestly thought the 'Fay' were going a bit too far that way. I know they were probably searching for a new theme after Zero, but I still found it a bit trite.
That said, this is still a Baldr game, and thus a mix of filthy human desires and high ideals stain the world crimson with the blood of thousands along the way, leaving me satisfied that Giga didn't abandon the series core precepts. They were just a bit too obvious when they designed the setting and theme, lol.
Overall, this game will get mixed reactions from Baldr fans while being perhaps slightly more accessible for those who might have had trouble with the much darker atmosphere of the previous games... in that sense, I think Giga probably made a mistake, as that dark atmosphere is one of the series' attractions. As a VN, it is very well written and smooth to play... showing off the skills of Giga's writing staff to their fullest. It reminds me of why so many who read Giga games say 'Giga is great... if you just play the Baldr series.'
I'll be frank, Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Bansenjin feels more and more like a 'worthless sequel' the more I read. I don't say that out of cruelty but simply because I have no attachment left to the characters from the original, except a general feeling of 'that story was over, for god's sake move on!'. Some people already know my feelings about sequels in chuunige VNs, and Masada is particularly bad when it comes to returning characters. One of the problems is that Masada tends to actually complete his stories inside that one VN in such a way that you are left exhausted and satisfied... and thus you can't help but feel a little betrayed when he up and creates a sequel.
Moreover, this is a time when I would really have preferred them to just create a new cast of characters from scratch. Yoshiya is Masada's most boring protagonist - I can say this with absolute certainty - and the other characters are similarly bland in comparison to his other works. The fact that the first VN was still a lot of fun was simply because Masada is good at telling stories in general. To be honest, I was a lot happier when I was only thinking of the possibilities for this game.
Worse, because I know where it is going - Masada's hints are more blatant than usual - I'm starting to be unable to retain an interest. 有体に言いえば。。。白けた
I feel like I feel when watching a zombie movie... something that shouldn't be moving is moving, blech. I don't care really what Masada planned from the beginning, because this has been a singularly unpleasant experience so far.
Edit: I just figured it out. I wanted Shizuno (the white-black haired girl) to be the protagonist, with only minimal interference from the old cast. To be honest, her weirdness would have made her an excellent new protagonist, and I hate that I'm spending so much time in boring old Yoshiya's head when a more interesting brain is nearby, lol.
To be honest, except for the end of the VN, this one is fairly disappointing. It was like they mixed a fandisc with a real sequel... there is way too much slice-of-life mixed into the VN, and the fact that they reused the Hajun concept again (anyone who plays this after having played Dies Irae and KKK will understand what I'm saying) was immensely irritating. I mean, the biggest complaint every last person who played the original had was that it was too much of a Dies Irae imitation, without the power that Dies Irae possessed.
*sighs*
From a simple raw quality standpoint, this is - in the end - a Masada VN, and it shows through in the quality of the narration... it just grates on the nerves for me, because I expected better from Masada than a pale copy of his other works.
The last few hours are, of course, classic Masada battle narration and story advancement... which still didn't quite make the overwhelmingly irritating slice-of-life segments worth it.
Blade x Bullet is the latest in the Soleil series (search my blog, I played all but the most recent previous entry in a marathon a few months ago). This series is based off of a series of parallel worlds that proceeded from the end of Ragnarok, the last battle of the Norse gods. Some of those worlds are similar to our own, others are of a greater technology, and others are worlds of magic. The world in this VN is in the midst of its own apocalypse, mechanical monsters from the sky invulnerable to weapons of high technology massacring humanity. The only hope for humanity are the Valkyries, powerful spirit weapons created using the corpse of a human woman (or a living human woman), a weapon that has tasted the blood of thousands or a divine artifact, and a powerful spirit.
By the time the story begins, the failure of the Valkyries is apparent, and the survivors amongst them have been gathered at a castle to compete to gain the power of Odin, in order to birth a new world... after fighting one another to gain the runes that lie at their cores. The protagonist, Yagi Mutsuki, a human warrior from Japan known as the 'ally-killer hero' for the fact that all who accompanied him into battle died but he killed more monsters than anyone else, dies and is resurrected by the Norse Goddess of the Dead, Hel, and given the mission to destroy humanity's hope for the future, accompanied by the Valkyrie Reiganlief.
Mutsuki is... more than a little crazy, probably because he is the holder of the soul of Loki (this isn't a spoiler, since they say it from the beginning), with a love of trouble. He makes his decisions on whether an event is to his tastes or not, rather than by any kind of moral compass. As a warrior, he is unsurpassed amongst humanity, but he is more self-derisive than you would imagine from that. He is also heavily under the influence of his Loki side after being partially resurrected from the dead, so his personal darkness is behind a lot of his actions (he basically rapes most of the Valkyries at one point or another, though that seems to be his twisted way of showing affection... not that even he thinks that justifies it).
This story is heavy on the brutal outcomes, with a general sense of impending doom that is typical of the series. However, it is so excellently written you almost wouldn't think it was written by the same person as Shin Shirogane. I honestly loved Mutsuki's plotting to outwit fate, and the ending is pretty exhilarating... and fitting for one brought about by a guy who tempers Loki's chaotic nature with more human emotions. The game is a bit short, as it is a kinetic novel with a set ending. However, that didn't take away from my enjoyment, as I felt they developed the characters more skillfully in this one than in the last few games.
Overall, if you don't mind the excessively dark themes and some tentacle rape, this is a fun game to play... though I have to say that Mutsuki is the most atypical protagonist in the series so far, being as far from heroism as it is possible to be.
Edit: I should make a correction... he doesn't actually rape Fenrir, Reigenleif, Yorm, Brunhilde, or Grimgelde... but he is so S that it feels like it. I actually think the only time it was actually rape was with Ottlinde... lol
This particular WN falls into a particular sub-genre of isekai where the protagonist is cast out of a group of people summoned as heroes to another world. This particular genre began to become popular with Shield Hero, but it has evolved significantly since then.
In this WN, the protagonist is summoned along with eight hundred other people from the same school and is one of two people who are not granted a gift from the goddess. As a result, he is cast out of the castle and driven from the city... but that doesn't really bother him, because Shindou Jin is not your average guy in the first place. Instead of a blessing/gift, he has his own unique abilities that blossomed upon his arrival, each basically one of those overpowered cheats you would make any individual a monster on any world they ended up in. The most obvious of them are his ability to steal the stats and skills of others permanently and make them his own (to the point where a light breeze will kill them), his ability to see his own stats and those of others, and his ability to see the world from the point of view of an overhead map that has everything revealed from the beginning (no fog of war).
To be blunt, the author presents this story as one where the protagonist never really struggles with anything and one-sidedly slaughters anyone who gets in his way while following his whims (which really are whimsical).
Another thing is that Jin is lucky... and when I mean lucky, I mean that he naturally instigates trouble just by existing and then enjoys it thoroughly. He is also someone with an intensely strong desire for ownership and a collector/pack rat. The fact that he buys a few slave girls just because 'that's what isekai travelers do in stories' then gets addicted to shopping at slave trader shops (usually finding 'hidden bargains') says everything about how little he cares for common sense when it comes to himself (though he likes people who are on the straight and narrow and generally will treat them well). By the time I caught up with the author's writing, he had well over 30,000 slaves, most of which he had never met and were worshipping him (most of his 'slaves' are essentially Jin cultists, lol).
If you like stories where the protagonist does whatever the hell he wants at a given moment, this is an excellent read. If you like standard stories of heroism and kindness, this isn't your WN.
Edit: Oh and yes, I am an isekai junkie, if you guys hadn't figured it out. About 90% of what I'm reading is either isekai or fantasy, since non-anime Japanese sci-fi never feels as complex and interesting as western ones (to be blunt, I think part of that is once you've watched Legend of the Galactic Heroes, everything else feels pale and weak in comparison).
To be honest, my first thought after playing this game was: 'Yeah, this is a Looseboy game.' Needless to say, I don't always consider that a compliment. Looseboy has a tendency to prefer being opaque even where being opaque doesn't really serve all that well, as anyone who played Sharin no Kuni or G-senjou can tell you, if they can bring themselves to discard fanboyism.
Why do I say this? I say it because if I don't manage to get past that particular lump in the throat, I won't be able to properly comment on this VN.
First, this VN, like most Looseboy VNs, starts as a soft school story with a dark undertone that gradually overpowers the rest as the story goes on. This is his style, and anyone who played his previous games will be familiar with the pattern. I will say that this one does it moreso than any of his other VNS, as there is a lot of insanity going around... The mystery of the story is actually fairly hum-drum, though it is more occult-focused than any of his other stories.
Despite the vndb description, there is no battle royale aspect to the story. Rather, it is more intimately involved in the characters emotions, relationships, and conflicts. At the same time, the threat of the 'meeting' is always there in the background and is the source of the sense of lurking horror that infects the story as a whole.
In this VN, Looseboy drags you through the mud of the characters personal flaws and problems, and for those who don't like that type of thing, this is definitely not for you. On the other hand, if you like creepy atmospheres, despair, madness, and human drama, this is probably a good choice for you. It helps that the protagonist is likeable, most of the time, and it is actually understandable that girls would like him (an unusual occurrence in VNs, in general).
My final thoughts...? To be honest, while the last few chapters really did have a lot of impact, the buildup to the core story was a bit too drawn out and there was a bit too much focus on the personal drama, though that was understandable considering the nature of the occult threat. The ending... was ok, but I could have used a solid after-story rather than the five minute after-credit scene that basically says 'maybe we'll be all right'. Considering how much effort Looseboy went to make you care about Rumi and Renji, you'd think he would have had the forethought to give them a more detailed conclusion.
Edit: To clarify, the horror in this VN is mostly psychological, with only a very limited amount of bloodshed. Don't go in expecting guro, in other words.
This is the first of August's releases I'm playing, and to be honest, I didn't really have any hopes for this VN... in a good way, my belief that it would suck was betrayed, though this is a very problematic VN, in a number of ways.
1. It is LONG. This VN is way too long for a story that is almost entirely slice-of-life (though it is an extremely abnormal life) and considering how self-abusing the protagonist tends to be.
2. The music cuts out at irregular intervals, and frequently it doesn't make sense when it does.
Those are the obvious flaws, and I'll just leave it at that. For a doujin VN, the art is about as good as it gets (outside of a few miraculous works of art that pop up once or twice a year). The match of characterization to art is pretty good in this case (in other words, the characters' personalities are properly matched to the expressions and poses of the tachie), though there is very little in the way of pose variances in comparison to a commercial VN.
Most of the music in this VN is generic (though the opening and ending songs are decent unique ones), but it is used properly - where it doesn't cut out and leave you hanging - so there isn't a lot to complain about.
Story-wise... the concept is interesting. The basic idea of the protagonist is that he is cursed to be the 'idiot friend' (think Sunohara from Clannad) who exists entirely to help the protagonist get together with a heroine or to kick him out of his mood and save the heroine. The thing is... he has at least forty groups of such 'osananajimi' characters, each with a 'protagonist' of its own that he has to help. The basic impression is that it is like a full time job... a job he really, really hates.
To be honest, I was kind of amazed they went with a primarily serious story (yes, it is serious) despite the seemingly humor-focused idea of the story. Oh, there is indeed a ton of laughable points... in fact, it is impossible to avoid them even if you try. However, the baseline of the story is serious, to the point where you have to wonder just why they had to lay it on so heavy in the latter part of each heroine route. (incidentally, I'm half-sure there is a hidden heroine route in here somewhere, but because this is a doujin VN, there are no walkthroughs to help me find it, lol)
Well, my conclusion after having played the obvious heroine routes is that this is a decent VN... but only decent. It doesn't get beyond that, primarily because its flaws are glaring enough that they offset most of the good points. This VN could definitely have done with a bit of cutting the fat, especially when it came to the repetitious gags and constant foreshadowing with no progression (it took way too long to get to the point) in Nanami's route.
This game is the one I've been waiting for... a mimikko nakige that doesn't ignore the setting or human nature.
At the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Kazuki takes in a puppy he finds abandoned in the park, feeds her, and then falls asleep with the half-feral cat he feeds occasionally watching. When he wakes up, they've both transformed into mimikko, a catgirl and a doggirl... Soon after, it becomes apparent that shortly after this event, pets around the world began turning into humanoids, resulting in the kind of mixed reactions you'd expect in the real world if that happened. The reactions, as described, vary between fanatical religious obsession and fetishism to xenophobic psychopathy and upsurges in racism... and everything in between.
Now, this game has a really odd balance... there is almost enough H content in this game to call it a nukige, but the emotional narration, the characters' actions, and the way it is written is pure nakige fare. Kuro and Hana (the cat and dog) are really obvious deredere characters, and Hana is the obvious main heroine. However, Kuro and the three other heroines are not neglected in any way, shape, or form... they all have their unique story/paths.
This game is big on the feels. Kazuki is a young man with an intimate knowledge of loneliness and isolation and a sense of compassion that is close to saintly. In addition, he is wise enough to do what will prepare the two girls in his care for the world they've come into, rather than simply protect them from the knowledge of what is is like (which would be typical for the average VN protag)... For the example in the prologue, he takes them along when he goes to the local animal shelter to help pick out the animals that will be taken to the place he works (a charitable organization that takes in abandoned pets and trains them for adoption, similar to organizations in 'no-kill cities' in the US, such as my own Austin), where they will be trained so as to make them more adoptable... and makes it clear to them the inevitable results for those who aren't chosen (note: I only chose to spoil this part because it is vital to understanding the difference between this and your standard moe-fuwa mimikko game).
This is one of three games I've encountered of the type, each approaching things from a different perspective (for one thing, this one is fantasy). Those other two are Sakura Iro Quartet and Otomimi Infinity. Nekopara ignores human nature a bit too often to make it into that particular rarified company, lol.
Anyway, for those interested in a mimikko nakige with really good feels, this is a good choice. This is a great emotional story. However, don't expect extreme levels of depth or dark motives from the main characters, since they are all essentially good-hearted people.
The House War series is one of three co-existing (to some extent, each of the series co-exists in time, often with the same characters) series written in the same universe by Michelle West, a half-Japanese, half-Canadian writer who first came to my attention when I was stunned by the first book of the Sun Sword series.
The universe created in the three series (the Sacred Hunt duology, the Sun Sword series, and the House War series) extend across over thirty years of time in-series and involve as many varied perspectives, people, and desires as the more infamous large-scale high fantasy book series out there (the Wheel of Time, the Game of Thrones, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, etc). However, it is distinct in every way from them in style.
While the world West puts together is often as harsh or more so than the Game of Thrones series, it manages a degree of mystique that Martin never achieves, at least partly because the focus is more on the people and setting then making as many dirty deeds as possible occur in the shortest time possible (incidentally, that is my assessment of Martin's works). A typically Japanese flavor exists in the writing, mixed with flavors of Celtic and even Middle Eastern tones at times. Depending on which characters form the core of an individual book, the atmosphere differs dramatically.
The House War series is centered around Jewel Markess ATerafin and the people that surround her. Jewel is a key character in all three series, though in different ways. In the Sacred Hunt, she is the desperate leader of a den (think street gang) of orphans whose existences are only considered relevant relative to her. As such, little focus or spotlight is put on the den, except to give them some minimal color and give you a vague idea of how they matter to Jewel. Jewel is seer-born, a rare form of 'talent' that causes her to see potential futures in dreams and instinctively (knee-jerk, gut-level) know when her own life is in danger and avoid it reflexively. Other talents, such as mage-born, healer-born, god-born, bard-born, and maker-born are all present in the series, but explanations for each are generally only presented as aspects of their existence become relevant to the story at large.
She lives in Averaalan, the capital city of an Empire ruled by the Kings, two god-born children born of the gods of Wisdom and Justice. The complex society of the Empire nonetheless has only a very limited privileged class, made up of a wealthy but not feudal 'patrician' nobility, the commons, and the Ten. The Ten are one of the constructs I like most, besides the Kings, in this particular setting. They are a group of ten aristocratic clans that are granted almost complete internal autonomy and are not hereditary. Instead, the Ten increase their numbers by merit-based adoption, wherein individuals that have talents and skills desired or needed by the clan as a whole are 'adopted' regardless of origin.
The House War series follows Jewel's life from early childhood, details the creation of her den, and further writes in details of the events around the duology solely from the point of view of the den and Jewel herself in the first book. The rest of the books detail her rise after the events of the Sun Sword series to the rank of the Terafin (the ruler of the Terefin, the greatest of the Ten) and the results of her choices until she meets her destiny. Of the three series, the House War series most deeply details the aspects that are left oblique and unexplained in the previous books, regarding the nature of human talent-born, the nature of power in that universe, and the nature of the immortals and gods.
Jewel is, other than her power, merely a fiercely compassionate woman who cares far too deeply for someone who rules. Her immortal companions are frequently frustrated by her (mostly because they only understand the power she wields and what it will become), and her mortal companions fear for her as her power grows and she struggles against the necessity to change in order to master it.
The over-arching antagonist of all three series is Allasakar, the Lord of the Hells, a being that is deliberately demonized (lol) in the Sacred Hunt, given some perspective through the eyes of Kiriel, his half-human daughter, in the Sun Sword, and given a third and more complete relative perspective based on the truths revealed in the House War series. I won't go into detail about this, but Allasakar is presented as being inimical to all mortal life... and this is true in every way. However, one thing that gets revealed in a rather stark manner in the House War is just how inimical ALL immortals in this series are to mortals.
The world Jewel and the other characters live in is one that is asleep, the gods having withdrawn to another realm for reasons of their own, the Firstborn (their 'children) confined to the mystic wilds, and many of the other immortal existences in a thousands of years long sleep. Because of this, a marked difference between the early books and the later ones is the stripping away of the gentle human 'myths' that gloss over just how terrible the immortals, regardless of alignment, were.
If the Duology was a simple good vs evil play and the Sun Sword was an interwoven tapestry of demons an politics, the House War is the mortal coming into contact with and struggling against the immortal. Michelle West's concepts of the immortal are very Japanese, for someone familiar with Japanese Buddhism and Shinto. Indeed, I can say that while there is a strong Celtic influence on the aesthetic, the essence is almost entirely Japanese when it comes to immortals in the story (it becomes even more so later on).
For those with an interest on why I said there is a strong Middle-eastern influence, I recommend you read the Sun Sword series. Following the events in the lands of the Dominion, in particular the first book of the series which almost exclusively centers around that region with few outside influences, brings that influence out in full. Serra Diora, one of my favorite characters in the series, is someone I can honestly describe as one of the most admirable characters in the series as a whole, while being one of the weakest relatively (Edit: In terms of power, not personality). It gave me a much better perspective on Middle Eastern culture, and it is one of the reasons I actually began reading some literature from that part of the world.
The Recluce Saga, despite being a somewhat niche 'high fantasy' novel series, is perhaps one of the largest and most monolithic such series to have been written in the last forty years. Beginning back in the eighties and spanning more than twenty books now, it is LE Modesitt Jr.'s signature series, the series that propelled him from a somewhat eccentric author of varying science fantasy and science fiction novels and series to one of the quiet dominators of high fantasy as a genre.
The Recluce Saga setting is defined by wars, conflicts, and clashes between normal society and the mages of the two forces known as chaos and order. Chaos is energy, change, destruction, and entropy, whereas order is structure, reinforcement, defense, and healing/restoration. It is very easy, if you read the early books, to regard users of chaos as 'evil', and it is true that a disproportionate number of them are evil. Order users find it extremely difficult (painful and sometimes deadly) to be dishonest in any fashion, to kill, and even to touch edged weapons at times. Chaos users fling firebolts, break down the structure of objects, and corrupt/corrode the people and world around them. Chaos users and those who are touched by chaos are natural liars and deceivers, often selfish and ambitious, and they generally can't be trusted at all.
However, later books, regarding the foundation of Hamor and the Cyador era (both in the past) show that there are chaos users who escape the fate of those who not only use chaos but let it into their souls. Lorn'alte is a man who has the passion and ambition of a chaos user, combined with the idealism and sense of what is right that one who can also touch order possesses. In a nation built on the use of chaos, he sees what is best about his nation and strives to make it stronger, even as the forces of those whose ambitions are entirely selfish and those driven by irrational fears try to destroy him again and again. Lerial, the second son of the Duke of Cigoerne, has a journey from a somewhat petulant child of a chaos wizard to a mature adult who understands the costs and necessities of protecting the fledgling nation his grandmother formed. Perhaps the greatest gift these two series granted me, as a long-time reader of the series, was transforming white mages from faceless schemers and destroyers to people with cares and woes not so different from the average person, just enhanced by their power.
The earlier books primarily focus on events around Recluce and the order users. Recluce is a nation formed by one of the most powerful weather mages (weather magic being born of order) in history and a gray mage who was bound to him. Recluce is a nation born as a refuge of order users, who are often disliked by those in power because their benefits are subtle and their ability to see truth (and the knowledge they don't lie) is well-known to the average person. However, by the time of the first book (Magic of Recluce) Recluce is one of the greatest powers in the world (a defensive-isolationist power but still a power), with steam ships made out of black iron and mage-engineers forging weapons that no chaos mage can stand against. Most of the protagonists of the various arcs of the early series are young men who are idealistic order mages, who don't learn until after many painful trials and tribulations that the world is what it is and what is right is not necessarily what is. This is an issue for many young order mages, apparently, because of their tendency to view what is right as what should be (order mages have a tendency toward rational morality that is somewhat rigid). Moreover, as a result of their journeys through life, they experience suffering on enormous scales, as they must deal with the world's backlash to their attempts to make it better. Many end up unleashing terrible destruction and change upon the world, ironically creating the very chaos they themselves sought to reduce.
And that comes to the nature of the Balance. In the world of the Recluce saga, the two forces are always, no matter what, evenly matched. For every iota of order energy in the world, whether bound in objects or free in the world, there will always be an equal amount of chaos present. As Recluce builds itself up, chaos mages become more plentiful and powerful, and it becomes possible for Recluce and artificers in general to make better and more effective weapons from iron and steel, thus also incrementally increasing the amount of free chaos in the world.
Most of the protagonists in the Recluce saga are good people at heart, often forced into situations where they have no choice but to kill, destroy, and bring about change in order to make things better for the future. They are people who can see beyond the immediate, who often see generations and centuries into the future, and they possess the inner steel necessary to change things... even as their actual desires are often more humble in origin, to have a family, to be able to work a forge without fear of caprice from the powerful, to see that their female children not be used as chattels, etc. This is a theme throughout most of Modesitt's fantasy, as the basic motivations of his characters are humble while resulting in great change, because of the expanded viewpoint they gain as a result of their journeys through life.
Yes, I have indeed decided to add books to my regular posts, mostly due to Rooke's suggestion. Understand, if you think I've read a lot of VNs... that is nothing in comparison to the number of books I've read over the twenty-eight years since I learned to read. That number is somewhere in the tens of thousands... and one of the reasons I can be so intolerant when it comes to the excessive reliance on conventions in VNs, lol. Honor Harrington Honor Harrington is both a character and a series written by David Weber, one of the more famous science fiction authors out there. He tends to write military sci-fi, mostly, and in a different way from Ringo (Ringo being the most famous name in military sci-fi), he has reshaped the way I saw science-fiction to some extent. Honor, in the book On Basilisk Station, is the captain of a light cruiser named Fearless that has been exiled to the hardship post/dumping ground of her star nation's holdings for the crime of being an incidental part of the humiliation of one of her more well-connected superiors. Throughout the series - up until this point (there are over twelve books now, and Harrington is both older and wiser), Harrington in many ways embodies all the military holds up as an ideal. She is courageous, intelligent, aware of her duty, and she has a knack for ending up in the worst positions you could imagine (both politically and militarily). Her character, over the course of the series, advances from a somewhat immature young officer to a wise woman who is all to0 aware of the cost of doing her duty. She and her treecat (an alien empathic animal that occasionally forms bonds with humans) survive some of the worst hells, psychological and physical, that you could imagine existing in the mortal universe... and endure the loss of those who don't. Now, a good military sci-fi series is no good without an enemy empire to deal with... and in this one, it is the People's Republic of Haven, a massive interstellar star nation with an apparently overwhelming advantage in numbers... but an economy that is going down the drain to the welfare state and the deliberate sabotage of the education system by the political elites (sounds kind of like a combination of democratic socialism for the first and Republican education policy for the latter, lol). In Haven, over two thirds of the population is on the Dole, the name for their welfare system which basically hands out a living allowance to everyone who wants it... in exchange for making the 'legislature' and all other government positions hereditary some three centuries before. Unfortunately, this has caused a slow but accelerating decay in the system as a whole, as entire generations grow up with the deliberately castrated education system and no incentive to try to rise above their peers. This has led Haven to a very simple - and short-term - strategy... conquer neighbors, gut their economies to feed the worthless mouths of the mob, then include them in the Dole... rinse and repeat, ever expanding outward. Unfortunately for Honor's homeland, Manticore, it has been slated as the next morsel to go down the throats of the faceless masses, and the antiquated but massive navy of the 'Peeps' is planning to make itself the fork. The first few novels are basically preliminaries to the outbreak of open war (albeit bloody ones), where Honor finds herself in some really nasty situations as she does her duty and in the process incidentally foils the best-laid plans of the other side. One thing to keep in mind is that warships in the Honorverse tend to have hundreds to thousands of crewmen... meaning that every breach of the hull can kill dozens, further meaning that even in a 'minor confrontation' dozens to hundreds will die... and Honor rarely gets into 'minor confrontations'. The guilt of a commander that loses men to the enemy is an important theme throughout the series, though not a primary one. Manticore, Honor's homeland, is a small three-planet, two-system star nation at the beginning, ruled by a constitutional monarchy, complete with a House of Lords and a House of Commons... Generally speaking, the position of the monarch is kind of similar to the current one of the Queen of England, both in law and substance... in other words, while she has very little actual direct authority by law, her influence is immensely strong, both as a symbol and as an individual. The House of Lords, which was basically formed by ennobled 'original' colonists who were there before the plague that caused them to bring in large numbers in a second wave, is supposed to act as a restraint on the elected House of Commons, and generally the Prime Minister is chosen from amongst its members. Manticore is probably the most advanced nation in the entire human-ruled galaxy (outside of genetics, which is Beowulf's and Mesa's specialty), at least partially because their prime system is at a wormhole junction that allows a much faster movement from one end of the ginormous Solarian Union to the other. This gives them massive amounts of money and direct access to technology from other worlds that has let them build up a huge advantage in relative terms over the People's Republic, which is an issue that is important throughout much of the series. In many ways, it is easy to think of Manticore as a futuristic version of the British Empire without the colonialist tendencies and racial arrogance. Throughout the series, characters on the 'side of good' are put in situations that are pure hell, forced to make hard decisions, and they frequently live or die by those decisions, with Honor always at the forefront. The series as a whole is really well-written... with realistic-feeling antagonists and easy to love characters on both sides of the war (Theisman from the second book comes to mind for the People's Republic), as well as people that are truly worthy of hate and contempt on both sides. The more serious elements are broken up by the humorous interactions of Honor, her subordinates, and her friends, and there are many times throughout the series when big issues of morality are brought to the forefront (such as the morality of gene-manipulation, stating a big one). If there is one thing you'll notice about any David Weber book... it is that he manages to create characters that make you want to cheer them on... even on the other side. He rarely, if ever produces a side of one of his books' wars that doesn't have people that are good despite the system they work within, and even the best of his people - including Honor herself - have their moments when they show the baseness of human nature's darker side. Honor is the type that leashes her dark side with duty and unleashes it on the enemies of her people... but that dark side definitely exists, chained beneath the surface (as is seen rather clearly in the second and fourth books). My conclusion about this series - which I've reread four times - is that I can honestly recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction and space operas... but for people who can't handle complexity - both of scenario and of moral/philosophical issues - they will probably have difficulty with it. The Honorverse is still going strong, currently... though it has several anthologies and two side-series (one based in the early days of Manticore and another focused on characters involved in the anti-slavery movement). Honor herself hasn't been sidelined... but the story has evolved beyond that small portion of space that contains Haven and Manticore, meaning that it is not so focused around her anymore.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is perhaps one of the most complex series I've ever read... and that is saying a lot. It is high fantasy in the sense that it is based in a fantasy world that is unbelievably complex (it makes Game of Thrones look simple at times) and it has the combined moral ambiguity and dark humor of Glen Cook's Black Company series as well. However, where Steven Erikson shines the most is in his world-building... and in his character-creation. This is perfectly natural, as he is an anthropologist, and it tends to show in the way he portrays societies, nations, cultures, and people. There is no 'good' or 'evil' in this series, in the classic black and white sense that most high fantasy writers seem to prefer. While many characters are cruel, brutal, or tyrannical, he quite simply doesn't make flat characters that only exist to fulfill a specific role in the series. As an example... Cotillion, the God who is the Patron of Assassins (also known as the Rope), is perhaps one of the most ambiguous characters in the series. Many of the gods in this universe are petty, obsessive, cruel, or otherwise 'trashy' individuals despite their worshipers views of them, but Cotillion, despite being the patron of one of the most socially 'evil' professions in existence, is an individual who is as capable of compassion and giving unexpected gifts as any of the supposedly 'good' gods. Considering that he starts the series as an antagonist, this development of his character is perhaps one of the more obvious elements of deep character development I observed in the series. Erikson, throughout the series, uses various techniques to develop various characters. My single favorite character in the series, Anomander Rake, never has any first-person time. This is despite the fact that he is perhaps one of the most influential beings in the entire universe in which they are based. The opinions of others and reading about his interactions with the various characters are your sole points of reference on him... but he is subtly built up to be one of the most amazing representations of virtue - hidden behind a darker mien - that you see in the entire series. This is a man who has spent over three hundred thousand years doing his level best to keep his followers from committing collective suicide as a result of their racial despair at the abandonment of Mother Dark, the goddess that was once their patron. He leads them by example, rather than by command. He never asks more of them than they are willing to give, and when one of them finds joy, he is always the first to give them his blessings, even if it costs him their services in the most vital of times. In many ways, he is the very representative of divine compassion in the series (as he is technically an Ascendant and is worshiped by many of the race he was born from), as opposed to the odd representation of human compassion and folly that is the Paran family. In many ways, his departure from the stage is the defining moment for us, the readers... but his most defining moment came long before that, when he made the decisions that led up to that point. Another oddly ambiguous but admirable character is the God of Death, Hood. Hood is... perhaps the most ironic character in the series, by far. Originally, he was the King of the Jaghut, a race that abandoned society and racial unity because of how pointless they came to see it. Being the King of such a race would have been an ironic oxymoron in and of itself, but the fact that he became the God of Death by first declaring war on the concept, leading an army against it, only to die and drag an impossible victory from the ashes of defeat, creating the afterlife as it is known during the series. He is frequently indifferent, cruel, and/or petty in his treatment of others... but some of this is because he himself has been dead for hundreds of thousands of years and is more or less stuck carrying out a role that is almost anathema to his original reason for 'living'. In the series, there are degrees of racial and societal foolishness that dwarf what we have experienced... for example, the T'lan Imass. Once a race of human forerunners (intelligent tool and weapon users), when they discovered the nature of the Jaghut Tyrants that had enslaved them at times, they made themselves undead as a race for the sole purpose of committing genocide upon the Jaghut, most of whom just wanted to be left alone... thus ending the Imass as a race and condemning themselves to an endless existence as what amounts to dust-aspected revenants with weapons of stone. Another example are the Tiste Liosan, who took their racial father's sense of justice and twisted into a dogmatic religious belief in the fundamental justice of themselves as a people, regardless of their actual actions. Erikson's world is full of dichtonomy, corruption of ideals, hidden compassion, hidden glory, and dirt-covered heroism. At times, men and women of the worst sort will willingly give of themselves and at others, seeming pillars of virtue will commit horrifying sims or fall completely out of grace. In other words, the Malazan Book of the Fallen is a series that rejects absolutes. That is perhaps what makes it so much fun to read, as it is for the most part told through the eyes of various soldiers, many of whom are neither admirable nor good. The Bridgeburners, who are a presence in just about every book in the series, define the series' human heart, in many ways balancing out the more... changeable beings that float around them. At times, I even felt tempted to interpret them as the voice of 'modern man' in a world of ancients, though that is probably not entirely correct. In any case, this is a series that is generally fun to read and provides a lot of food for thought.
Selma Fortenmeyer
For various reasons, it isn't possible to tell the story of Bullet Butlers without telling the story of Selma Fortenmeyer, Rick's master. Selma is the true/central heroine of Bullet Butlers and the focus of most of the conflict in the VN, in the sense that she sparks most of the disasters and victories by her very existence and her position.
Her growth as a character is easily the most powerful and obvious in the story, and it really is an incredible degree of growth. To get a picture of it, you should know that at the beginning, she is the picture of the ennui and apathy-infected noble daughter. She knows nothing is expected of her, but she isn't allowed to flee from her position in life. Moreover, she is at a point in her life where she doesn't value her existence at all, save in that Rick and Valerie care so much for her.
However, as the story progresses and events force her to the forefront, she grows into her role with speed and alacrity, gradually overcoming the despair that has infected her and rising to the occasion. Playing this VN for a second time, I was struck even more by this progression - and this is just in the common route - from a worthless younger daughter to a strong-willed hero.
For those who played Ayakashibito, Selma is a significantly different barrel of fish... in reality, Rick's role is closer to Suzu's in their relationship, and it really does show. At the same time, both characters are a lot more mature than those two (Rick is twenty-four and an experienced gunslinger and butler, after all). As a result, there is a depth to their character dynamic that has a different quality than that of Soushichi and Suzu.
While Selma, of course, shows herself at her best in her own route, she does nonetheless grow into her role in the others, as well. She is easily the best heroine in this VN, but it is a mark of Propeller's own peculiar proclivities that none of the routes can be considered to be 'neglected' in relation to one another. Even though Selma's route is the 'true' one, the other two routes both have their own impact and power.
Final
Having finished this VN for the second time, there were a number of things I took notice of in a different way from the first time through... but perhaps the biggest one is simply that I was surprised at how many of the most important details I remembered. I had to laugh when I realized I'd subconsciously solved the riddle of the path themes in my first read through, and they came back almost immediately after I entered them.
First, with Valeria's path, it is straight-and-narrow love and the mixture of hope and despair it creates. Like all the paths in the good Propeller games, it is a highly emotional story, and the stories of both the antagonist and the heroine are described in intimate detail, giving life to the characters to a degree that is very pleasing for someone who wants both emotional and intellectual value from his VNs.
Second is Yuki's path... this one is, above all, redemption and faith. The theme is perhaps not as simple as it might sound. For one thing, the focus of faith theme is a man who hates the god he worshiped and desires to be hated by him... and is instead the obvious focus of that god's love. You don't get much more ironic than that. The redemption theme... can only really be touched upon by spoiling everything, so I'll leave it at that.
Third is Selma's path... and this is perhaps the least obvious of the themes. It is basically 'the nature of a hero' and 'desires hidden even from oneself'. The former is brought out through the recognition of what it means to be a Mystic One (the 'inherited heroes' of the setting), and the twisted lifestyle it forces on those who inherit the title and power. The latter... is again one you can't touch upon without spoiling things horribly, so I'll leave it at that.
So... what is my overall conclusion? I really, really want to replay Chrono Belt, right now, lol.
Bullet Butlers has one of the more interesting fantasy settings that I've seen in a VN. Think film noir combined with elves, lizardmen, orcs, and magic and you won't be far off. The guy you see above is Rick Arrowsmith, the protagonist of the story and butler to one of the potential heirs of the draconic Mystic One (spiritual - not necessarily physical - descendants of the heroes who defeated the Undead King who serve as symbols of God's favor).
Now, Bullet Butlers was made by Propeller, the same company that made Ayakashibito and my long-lasting favorite VN - Evolimit. If there is one thing that some people might have noticed about Ayakashibito, it is that, to an extent, the heroines were less than satisfactory (from a moe-addict's point of view) and yet they still liked it... now why was that? It is a simple fact that the story in each heroine's path far surpasses the attraction of the heroine herself, that's why. lol
This is actually a quality that is present in all four of Propeller's really good action VNs (Ayakashibito, Bullet Butlers, Evolimit, and Tokyo Babel) but is especially evident in this one. The main reason? Two out of the three heroines are abysmally unattractive, lol. That said, their paths on the other hand, show the flair that made me fall in love with this company and still gets my hopes up even now, despite two major kusoge flops in a row.
This VN has a ridiculous amount of gratuitous violence in it, which is a reflection of the violence of the world they are living in. It is a world where death-worshiping cultists fight policemen in the streets, and where it is a matter of course for a security detail to drag half its number out in body bags... or in urns full of ashes scraped off the road. It is a world where men use magic to summon bullets into their guns and some guns can launch lightning or fire instead of simple solid slugs. Betrayal, murder, and general mayhem punctuate just about every major turn in the story... and to top it off, the protagonist's gun is eating his soul.
This VN stands out as being significantly different both from Ayakashibito and the others that followed in atmosphere... but at heart, it is still Propeller at its best.
This is the second part of my marathon of the Bunny Black series. In this one, it is some years after the events of the first game, and the protagonist and friends find themselves at war with a faction of angels...
Now I'm going to be straight here... the game system is a lot less refined than the one in the first game, at least in terms of the battles. There is far too much guesswork involved, and as a result, you can find yourself in severe trouble at times, even if you came prepared. This is probably the reason why a lot of fans of the first game were disappointed with this one. For dungeon-crawler games, the first one was a decent meal with dessert and this one is like breakfast at a truck stop diner. I also found it far more annoying this time that monsters start at level 1 when you hire them, since it is actually much, much slower to level in this one.
Story-wise... it is actually several levels above the first one, if you ignore how abrupt the events during the last third of the story are. In particular, the protagonist's feelings toward his daughter and many, many lovers are described in detail (though Darcs is, in the end, Darcs). Again, like the first game, this is basically a one-path story with a lot of side-events. Do expect a ridiculous amount of H-scenes, though.
Visually, this game is much, much improved over the first game, in every aspect. If I have one area in which I can unreservedly say they did better than the first game, it is this one.
I've been playing this one off and on since it came out, but I went ahead and finished it today.
To be honest, this game's difficulty level is about three levels higher than either of the previous ones, whereas the actual gameplay isn't improved all that much from the second one. The addition of a town-building element just made the game tedious, rather than adding anything to it.
Story wise... a good beginning, some good moments in the center, and a last part that falls flat on its face. The final antagonist is too flat, and the last boss battle is fairly anticlimactic. I'll be blunt and say that the second game did a better job in terms of story. I honestly can't give this game a good rating.
It's been a while since a single VN burned me out completely, but Silverio Trinity managed it. That VN had many of the best elements of its predecessor, while being more balanced, having added unique soundtracks, and overall creating a mostly new experience that, while it didn't completely transcend the original, still managed to stand on the same plane.
Unfortunately, it was a highly emotional experience, with a lot of excitement along the way... so I know I won't rate any VNs I play at this moment fairly, regardless of genre. As a result, I'm taking a week's break from my VN of the Month to recover my sanity, lol.
... exactly how many times have I mentioned that I'm busy lately...? Seriously. I'm in the middle of VN withdrawal for the first time in over three years... and I'm realizing how addicted I am. I'd be perfectly happy to play a kusoge for the second time, at the moment... if I had the time. The best I can do these days is drop in for a few minutes and maybe a quick post or two.
Considering that I originally started this style of work because it made me enough money in a short enough period of time to both support me and my habits (gaming, anime, books, and importing VNs) while leaving me time to actually enjoy them... Unfortunately, my choice seems to be backfiring for the second time in five years. If anything, this time is worse, because I actually failed to deliver for the first time in the last decade.
Anyway, enough complaints...
While I have the time, I'm going to list up the VNs I plan to read from July's releases, when they are released:
Tsumikui (maybe, and only maybe because it is an otomege, and good otomege are rarer than kamige charage)
Ojousama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu
Senren Banka (obviously)
Muramasa: Shokuzai Hen (new Muramasa content? Whoohoo!)
Aristear Remain
Floral Flowlove (Saga Planets' games since Hatsuyuki Sakura have been much weaker... but I'll probably still give it a chance)
Amatsutsumi (Purple Software has been on a roll with most of their releases in recent years... so I'm definitely playing this one)
Kimi to Yumemishi (new company... hopefully it will be interesting)
... for the first time in years, I just went through an entire week without finishing a VN...
Why?
The reason is fairly simple... real life. I'm having to clean up all the work left over from the time I spent essentially mentally handicapped that I didn't subcontract to someone else. That is on top of the work I would have received anyway...
In any case, I'm slowly making progress on Seiken Tsukai, and I can tell you that it is a VN that will definitely pick its readers. The strange mix of an idiot-arrogant protagonist, a cast of heroines who are mostly just window dressing (the story is supposedly over before you pick one), and a rather pathetic lack of proper information flow (by now, they should have covered the protagonist's immediate past, if only to get it out of the way...)... I can so far say that it isn't precisely an inspiring work. It isn't horrible (it is good enough that I actually want to finish it), but too much effort has been put into the character side of things (despite the low relevance of romantic elements) as opposed to story progression.
Edit: Actually, this is the first time since 2013 that I haven't spent more than seven hours in a single week on VNs... and I'm suffering from withdrawal. I get the urge to switch PCs in the middle of work constantly, and the voice in the back of my skull keeps saying 'just a few minutes, just a few minutes'.
This is Unobara Nozomu's second attempt at the mystery genre (for those who are interested, he also wrote Yurirei, Teito Hiten Daisakusen, and Fairytale Requiem) after the dramatic failure of Shinsou Noise last year.
To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this game, despite its interesting concept. This game, like many detective mystery type VNs, possesses a deduction system... but thankfully, it also lets you skip that portion at the click of a button (thus avoiding the story disruption that is the norm for games with deduction gameplay).
The story takes place in Shiraori City, a small city that has a massive murder rate, with most of them being carried out by serial killers, who seem to bloom like poisonous flowers by the handful in the city (incidentally, the manslaughter and incidental killing rates are much lower compared to the population than in the rest of the country, apparently). In this city, due to the sheer workload of all those murder cases, is a system whereby young people with unusual talents are taken on and trained as student investigators.
The protagonist, Tohno Keisuke is one of these, a young man with the ability to see the factor that made a victim's fate certain when he touches their corpse (or their ashes, hair, etc.). This ability has, with the help of his fellow investigators, allowed him to find several serial killers. His school's 'team' of student investigators works under the label of 'mushikui' (a club supposedly devoted to finding better ways to eat bugs).
The members of the club are Tendou Yui, a girl with an extremely strong sense of empathy that allows her to read the emotions and thought patterns of others from the most minor clues; Himuro Chitose, an almost autistic girl with an excellent memory and capacity for rational thought that has her training to be a profiler; Saotome Haya, an aggressive girl with immense physical abilities who hates criminals and loves nothing more than beating the shit out of them; and Kiryuu Azusa, the club's overseer, a teacher who is also a trained detective.
The game consists of three heroine paths and one true path. There are eight endings other than the true one (five of which are bad or dead endings).
The heroine paths in this game are about of equal quality, each adding pieces to the greater puzzle of the strange city the characters live in and bringing each heroine to life in turn. The protagonist, Keisuke, is something of a fractured spirit, constantly stabbed with pain left from his past (I'm not going to spoil you about it, even though it is revealed relatively early in the common route why this is), and how the heroines bring him out of this differs radically from path to path.
... trying to avoid spoilers in a mystery game is a serious pain in the butt. I can't really say anything in particular about the heroine paths without spoiling things, so I'll restrict myself to saying that each heroine path covers an individual case (a series of serial killings), and the mysteries themselves are relatively interesting on their own. Chitose's perp is probably the most obvious, whereas Haya's perp is the most obscure (clues are more subtle). There is a lot of psychopathy and disturbed minds in this game, and that includes the heroines and the protagonist (they all have issues, though not as bad as the killers they chase, lol).
The true path follows the mystery of the 'why' and 'what' of what happened six years ago (the events that resulted in Keisuke gaining the Butterfly Seeker ability and becoming obsessed with saving as many lives as possible). It reveals, piece by piece (drawing on the 'pieces' revealed in each heroine's path in part) the full truth of both the events six years previous and the events still occurring in Shiraori City. The ending of the true path is a bittersweet one, and - unlike most such paths - it isn't a heroine ending. While there are some things to be optimistic about for the characters, the fact remains that theirs is a life surrounded by tragedy (oh and watching Yui during a certain scene was scarier than any of the serial killers in this VN, lol).
I left this VN feeling relatively good about it... which is rare for me, when it comes to mystery VNs. A lot of it was that I liked the characters, the music, and how they handled the actual cases. Another part of it was that Keisuke was a surprisingly good protagonist. Overall, this was a good VN, though I'm not likely to pick it for VN of the Month this time around (this month is waaay too packed).
For those who are interested, Dergonu is handling Akumade, Kore wa ~ no Monogatari and fun2novel is handling Etatoto. The simple reason is that there are just too many March releases for one man to handle, and they were interested in those two games.
Edit: In retrospect, I do have one big complaint about this VN... there is no Azusa path. Azusa would make an excellent heroine, and it seemed a bit forced to make all the heroines around the protagonist's own age, considering how mature he is, in general.
