Review: Irotoridori no Sekai

Yuma is a rather forgetful young man who has lived with the constant companionship of Shinku, the young girl that only he can see, that grants him the power to heal people's wounds in exchange for his memories being consumed at random. He works as a 'nigashiya', helping to free people from the situations that plague them, binding them in place, under his teacher, Suzu and the manager of the school dorm, Shigure. Gradually, he comes to know the girls that have been gathered at that dorm, and in the process he becomes fond of them...

Characters: I know, it is unusual for me to introduce the characters, but I felt a need to change the way I do things... in the rush to avoid spoiling the story, I have a bad habit of not giving people any real details on the games.

Yuma

The protagonist of the story, he is a man who is driven instinctively to help others, when asked. He is rather free with his healing power, despite the cost to him in memories, and it is only because of Shinku's constant reminder to write in the special 'diary' that he is able to retain memories from day to day. He frequently dreams of a blue sky from which white feathers rain and a voice that calls to him 'Please... please save us.' He is a strong believer in the necessity of free will, especially when it comes to his 'work' as a 'nigashiya'.




Shinku

The 'Magician' whom only Yuma can see. She is very much the serious, intellectual type, but at the same time a passionately caring individual. She has an aversion to 'ecchi' things as well as an endless hunger for pancakes. She continually reminds Yuma to write in his diary in order to retain his memories from day to day, and whenever he uses his power, she reminds him of its cost, desperately wanting him to care for himself as well as those he heals.




Mio

Yuma's childhood friend, she is a mild tsundere with a tendency to try to force a 'clean and proper lifestyle' on Yuma whenever possible, bribing him with her homemade lunches in order to get him to come to school. While Yuma seems to think she might dislike him, it is obvious to anyone else that the reverse is actually the case.




Kana

A young girl whom Yuma saves when she falls from the lighthouse. Bright and cheerful, she claims to have known Yuma from long ago, when he made a promise to her that she refuses to tell him about. She frequently proclaims that she is his bride, attempting to hug him and the like. For some reason, her cooking is utterly poisonous in taste, even though it looks normal, even delicious. She openly says that her name is fake, and refuses to tell Yuma why she does not use her real name.




Tsukasa

A cheerful girl who works hard to make money for a reason she refuses to explain. She has a habit of apologizing for the least of things, and her gratitude when given something (such as food) is far out of proportion with what the gift is actually worth. Oddly, despite her need for money, she refuses to borrow money from Yuma or anyone else, saying that 'there is no meaning if I don't earn it on my own'.




Kyou

The hikikomori resident of one of the dorm's rooms, she is a devoted otaku who frequently speaks in anime/eroge/manga slang and seems to be incapable of fully separating reality from her hobbies. She mistakes Yuma initially for her older brother, and even when she realizes that he isn't, she continues to call him onii-chan, for obscure reasons of her own.


Sub-characters

Shigure

The manager of the dorm, who works at searching for lost items and people on request, using his 'Shiki', glowing butterflies that answer to his commands. He is a kind man who can't refuse to help people in need. He has a bad habit of collecting all sorts of mystical junk he finds on his travels to other worlds through the basement of the dorm.




Suzu

Yuma's 'master' in their profession as a nigashiya and in life in general. A lazy bibliophile who never met a book she didn't like and lives in a room so messy it would make a chimpanzee die of shock, she is unbelievably strong in combat and unhesitatingly does her best to help those who ask for her help.




Ayumu

A mysterious transfer student who appears on the same day Kana starts going to school with Yuma and also moves into the dorm at the same time. His halting way of speaking and his habit of observing people carefully before choosing to make contact only make him seem more mysterious.




Haku

A kitsune living in the 'Merchant's Town' one of the 'other worlds' to which Yuma and the other travel regularly. She is a fortune teller who is good at predicting the weather.

Ren

Haku's adorable daughter, who has a bad habit of getting herself lost. She is extremely shy with people she hasn't met before, though she is quite fond of Yuma.


Plot 8.5/10: Generally speaking, I don't choose to review this type of game, but I felt that the experience I got out of this was worthy of note. The general setting of the story, with the travel from world to world and the mysterious vanishings caused by the supposed will of 'God', are rather fascinating. In addition, each of the regular heroines has a decent story (with Mio's and Kana's standing out strongly from the other two) and an excellent 'true' ending that wraps up the loose ends quite nicely with Shinku and the world in general. This game's dramatic moments tend to be quite emotional, and I was frequently driven to tears by certain developments... especially Shinku's path. In addition, there were some points where I seriously blew water out of my nose with laughter, especially in the common route and Kyou's path.

Visual 8/10: Mmm... from a visual perspective, I suspect some people would have complaints, but that is more due to the style rather than any lack of quality, from what I could tell. Personally, I adore the color choices in this game, as they add to the mysterious feeling that a good deal of the story gives off, and I loved the design of the dorm. (From a purely visual perspective, I would have loved to have had Haku as a heroine... but oh well)

Sound 8/10: This game has a strong affinity for mysterious background music, and as a result, it does a good job of using said music. I had no real complaints about the voices, and I do think they did a real good job with characters like Ayumu, whose voice was done in a manner that was quite consistent with his background and Shigure, whose gentleness is his strongest defining trait.

Overall 8/10: Generally speaking, I'll end up recommending this story to anyone who likes nakige and games that manage to distinguish themselves by making proper use of the surrealism that is Japanese games' and anime's greatest plague as well as its greatest attraction. This game is a good choice for anyone looking for an eroge with a strong touch of the supernatural without a need to beat you over the head with the corpses of townspeople or frame the entire or even half the story within the confines of a high school.

Review:Tsubasa wo Kudasai

Seitenshou Gakuen is famous in Shizoaki since there is a legend that angels were created there. Mitsuto is a student there who doesn’t like the monotony of everyday life: waking up at the same time, going to school and coming back home after classes. He cleans the old and unused three-story Building B by himself. One day as he was sweeping the floors, he ended up on the seemingly nonexistent 4th floor and finds a girl reading a book alone. Her name is Hinako, and soon after he can start seeing things and people that normal people cannot see. The secret of the angels is starting to become unraveled.

~Summary taken from VNDB


Plot 8/10: To be honest, at first, the story of this game goes a bit slowly and my personal tastes don't really go in the direction of mysteries... even magical mysteries. However, as time went on I became rather fond of the characters and found that the game was very well-written. The one problem I have with the writing in general - and this is just a complaint that I also had of Cross Channel and other games that utilize the 'time loop' concept - is the repetition of entire scenes with only minor alterations like the perspective of the protagonist. The progression of the game itself follows a set heroine order with a final true ending on the last playthrough, with all the endings before the 'true' ending serving only to feed into the next round. This structure makes it easy to make a well-layered story, but it has the downside of being a bit tedious at points. Nonetheless, as the plot itself is intellectually interesting and the characters memorable it is definitely worth playing from a plot perspective.

Visuals 7/10: I found the visuals in this game to be pleasing on a personal level, but there are many points that show a disparity in quality that is jarring... in particular, if you compare CGs like the one above with certain other ones, it is easy to see the difference in quality. As such, I ended up removing points despite being personally fond of the aesthetic style of the game.

Sound 8/10: While the music in this game is almost completely generic, the tone fits the theme of the game very well, as such I've given the game a decent score when it comes to the sound. There are no tracks that stand out in my mind really, but in exchange, I never felt a jarring difference between the tone of the BGM and the mood of the scene, which means that the music definitely did its job.

Overall 7.5/10: Generally speaking, this is a decent eroge that is well-suited for those with an interest in 'traditional' occult themes (traditional being the concepts of the occult from Christian mythology and Western 'magic'). I can't suggest this for those looking for a humorous addition to their library as the humor is really only a bit of additional flavor added onto the story, despite the seeming size of the portions of the game devoted to slice of life scenes. This game's story progression is reasonably fast, in that you aren't left enduring scene after scene of meaningless drivel without being too fast to gain a comprehension of events, so it is well-made on that front as well. Also, despite utilizing Christian themes heavily in the basic story of the game, it doesn't have that overbearing sensation that a lot of games with heavy Christian symbolism and story elements tend to form, so it is pleasant on that front as well.

Fantasy/sci-fi Author, book, and series recommendations

I decided to recommend some books to anyone who has a hobby of reading anything besides manga or gaming magazines...

Epic Fantasy Authors

Michelle Sagara West
Stephen Erikson
Anne Bishop
Holly Lisle
Jane Lindskold
Stephen Brust

Epic Fantasy Books/series
Malazan Book of the Fallen series, by Stephen Erikson
The Sun Sword Series by Michelle West
The Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara
The Firekeeper series by Jane Lindskold
The Matrin Novels by Holly Lisle
The Vlad Taltos books by Stephen Brust
The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop


Urban Fantasy Authors
Jim Butcher
Jennifer Estep
Sergei Lukyanenko
F Paul wilson
CE Murphy

Urban Fantasy series
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
The Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep
The Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko
The Repairman Jack series by F Paul Wilson
The Urban Shaman series by CE Murphy
The Negotiator series by CE Murphy

Sci-fi Authors
CJ Cherryh

Sci-fi series
The Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh


Special recommendations: I in particular recommend anything by CJ Cherryh and the Malazan Book of the Fallen, for those who want food for thought. Cherryh's gift for creating stories of interaction between races and her thoughts on the formation of language and the effect sentient beings have on it and vice-versa are really fascinating. With Stephen Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, you have a series that shows all the best and worst of what people are capable of, inspiring you and throwing you down in the mud at various points, while reminding you constantly that the characters are in the end, flawed beings, no matter how powerful they might happen to be. Think of Glen Cook's dark military fantasy born from the tales of Vietnam vets combined with Eddings-style humor (at times) and Martin's tendency toward creating a world that is utterly merciless to even the most important characters in the story and you'll have a shadow of an idea of the complexity in those books...

Review: Coμ - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku

Synopsis: This story centers around Mizuwa Akihito and his Comyu, a group of five people, a chibi-gangster, a wannabe defender of justice, a perverted maid, and a loli otaku. Together, they control the black dragon Babylon and are thrown into the confused situation of Takakura city's supernatural underground, where young people of all types have been given control of similar monsters by the mysterious Shoujo A but are given no accompanying purpose or direction for the use of the power they have been given. Further, the discovery that the destruction of an Avatar results in the deaths of all those connected to it, regardless of whether they are present when it is summoned or not, forces the rather rag-tag group into a closer association than would have been possible otherwise. Add to this Akihito's acid-tongued childhood friend, the 'black witch' Hinaori Kagome, and you have a recipe for a truly fascinating story.

Plot 10/10: The setting of this story is really well-done, and the themes, such as what happens when someone is given immense power without any purpose to use it or the maturity to not use it, are fascinating in and of itself. In addition, the psychology of the protagonist, Akihito, and his personal philosophy add even more flavor to an already interesting plot with powerful characters that leave a strong impression upon the player/reader. Kagome's and Hisoka's paths in particular leave a strong impression, with Kagome's being the climax of the entire game. The pacing for each of the paths is very well-done, with the plot-twists and developments feeling quite natural and the final (Kagome's) ending leaving the player with a definite sense of satisfaction.

Visual 9/10: As can be seen in the picture above, the character designs and cgs in this game are striking. The expressions for the character models also vary in a pleasant way from the generic types that usually end up pasted on character faces... in particular Kagome's sneer and Benio's deredere face are well-worth remembering. In addition, the designs of the avatars, especially ones like Babylon, Sting, and El-Elaila are quite detailed works of art.

Sound 9/10: The music in this game... to say that it is easy on the ears is an understatement. Shoujo A's/Sting's theme in particular stands out as reminding me heavily of Lilium from Elfen Lied for the choral refrain and the general atmosphere. The character voices are each well-suited to their characters, with Itsuki and Kagome standing out from the crowd to burn themselves into the player's memory.

Overall 9.5/10: Easily one of the best VNs I've ever played and a personal favorite, it holds true to the best of Akatsuki Works games, with an underlying philosophy of moral relativism and a rather harsh, cynical outlook on the world in general. With the addition of its rather brutally blunt portrayal of the extremes of human nature when it comes to the use of power beyond an individual's capacity added in, I don't think I'll ever forget just how much of an impact this had on me. The visual and audio aspects of the game serve to enhance the story greatly, living up the quality I've come to expect from this company, and I really am glad I went back and played this a second time.

Review: Draculius

(Because VNDB's description is pure bullshit, I guess I'll have to make one this time... mendokusai)

Ogishima Jun is a beautiful (as beautiful as any woman) young high school student, going to school every day with his childhood friends, a politician's son with a sunny smile and a black personality, and a cross-dressing boy with a tanuki's face. While he doesn't particularly enjoy living alone, Jun is more or less used to it, so when a blonde loli with red-tinted violet eyes in maid's clothing comes knocking on his door, telling him that his long-lost father was a vampire prince and that he too will eventually awaken as one... and that she is to be his maid, he is understandably disturbed. This experience eventually leads to his headlong dive into the world of vampires, where darkness rules and vampires seem to be around every corner...


For the first time, I'm going to go ahead and introduce the characters, simply because this game left such a strong impression on me that I went back and played it through again after having completed it once, back in July.




This is Belche (Welshalant D Annoyance), this story's resident loli, and perhaps the second most unique character I've ever encountered in a vn. To Jun, she serves in a lot of different roles, though her basic role is as his mother/mentor in the vampire world, advisor, and the trump card that, if he pulls it out, will be able to solve any problem or resolve any catastrophe. Absolutely devoted to family and utterly ruthless with anyone who threatens it, she is the ultimate maid, as well as Jun's first kenzoku (servant vampire). Her unique Moon Ties ability is 'Dead Copy' which allows her to make an imperfect copy of any matter whose molecular structure she has memorized from any matter available. (turning a microwave into pasta, transforming sports drinks into replacement skin for a wound... and more)



This is Rika Pembleton, the trigger-happy vampire hunter who is sent to observe Jun for signs he might be dangerous to humans. To be blunt, she's a straight out tsundere, with an emphasis on both the 'tsun' and the 'dere'. Nonetheless, once you've seen Jun tease her into a rage a few times, you'll find yourself liking her, despite her archetypical personality.




This is Rian, who is sent as a potential fiance for Jun by one of the branch families of Jun's own vampiric bloodline. A bit of an airhead, with an arrogance and callousness towards humans that is a bit startling in comparison with her bright and sunny exterior. Despite lacking common sense and being a bit of a fool at times, she really is intelligent, which saves her from being just another annoying airhead with pale hair. Her Moon Ties power allows her to control the minds of others, as well as erasing their memories and other such convenient mental fiddling, and she has no qualms whatsoever about using it.



This is Zeno Jailburn, Rian's kenzoku and a member of the Jailburn clan of Lycans. Absolute loyalty is her strongest characteristic, thus being the first thing that comes to mind when I think of her. However, the way she fiddles with Rian, tricking her into acting like a tsundere and making fun of her while at the same time seeming perfectly servile is absolutely hilarious, and makes almost as much of an impact as the pic above. Her unique Moon Ties ability allows her to liquefy and take on the forms of other people at will.

Some notes...

This VN, unlike most, does not have unique paths for the various heroines, but rather a true path (that also happens to be a sort of harem path) and a sort of joke path centering around Rian and Zeno, where nothing really gets resolved when it comes to revealing mysteries and getting to know the characters.

Now, to the review...

Plot 9/10: This game's plot really is superbly written. The characters each leave a strong impression, with their wacky antics contrasting strongly with their reactions during times of crisis (with the exception of Misao, who is always a hyperactive idiot). Jun's personal journey, as his experiences send him deeper into the darkness of the vampire's world, is powerful, giving you a strong attachment to both him and the characters that accompany him along the way. In addition, the pacing is virtually perfect, never rushing you but never allowing you to grow bored with pointless lulls in the action either. There are few scenes that might be considered wasted if you head straight down the true path. The only reason I didn't give it a ten out of ten is because of the joke Zeno/Rian path they tacked on in such a halfhearted manner.

Visuals 8/10: As you can see above, the CG's in this game leave a strong impression, in particular the bloody ones... I am in particularly fond of all the CG's involving Belche or Zeno, as I inevitably end up staring at them for some time, pausing my progress through the story. As an example of what I really love about the character designs, I would mention the way they did Belche and Xeno's eyes... that faintly inhuman appearance to them (even aside from the color) that inevitably reminds you that they are 'alien' on some level, even during the most everyday of scenes, is striking.

Sound 9/10: I absolutely adore the music in this VN... The choral/guitar bgm they use for the sad scenes I ended up downloading and listening to while I write, and the humorous bgm they use at the title screen makes me laugh every time I hear it come up. As for the characters' voices... They all really are excellent, the performances and intonations for the characters suiting their personalities perfectly. In particular, I found Zeno's voice and speech patterns remaining in my memory, because of all the hilarious scenes associated with it. In addition, the contrast between Rika's 'tsun' and 'dere' speech patterns is so striking I actually break down and laugh just thinking about it sometimes.

Overall 9/10: Overall, this is one of the best VNs I've ever played and one of the few that I regularly get an urge to replay. Just about every aspect of this game is near-perfect, with only the pointless Rian/Zeno path serving to stain the experience. I really recommend this to guys who are interested in vampires and tired of the cheesy crap that ends up in American TV and books... I can also recommend this to fans of dark vns and vns with heavy philosophical undertones, as well as ones where the characters change significantly as part of the story's progression.

Review: Bloody Rondo

This is the first game by 3rdEye. Shinkurou leads a double life. During the day, he leads a normal school life with other students, but when the sun sets, he heads out to the town to hunt the vampires that have slipped in among humans. One night, he comes upon a girl surrounded by vampires. He takes care of the vampires and takes the fainted girl to his home. However, he soon finds out that she isn’t human. How will a vampire hunter like Shinkurou deal with Luna, the last vampire princess who doesn’t know much about humans at all? An action-based game featuring vampires (including man-made ones), lycanthropes and vampire hunters.

~Description taken from VNDB



Plot 7/10- As vampire stories go, this was far less cheesy than the crap we tend to see coming out here. The protagonist, Shinkurou is a bit of a stick in the mud, but his calm manner is a nice change from the hot-blooded protagonists that tend to rule the action vn genre. As for the plot... I find myself complimenting the plot for not going in the exact direction I expected in most cases. This game never fell into the trap so many eroges do of the plot becoming an excuse for the love story, or the trap a lot of action vns do of the story becoming an excuse for the action scenes. That said, this story has its share of flaws. In particular, Alice's path was a bit of a stretch, with some serious inconsistencies in the ending in particular. However, despite the slip-ups, the writing for this story is quite good and I find myself looking forward to future efforts by this company. This story's weakness would have to be the fact that three out of the five heroines are idiots. Well, with Lynne, it suits her character, but with Rinko and Luna you have to wonder how they survived long enough to meet the protagonist... In addition, the attempt to make at least part of the game a 'gakuen drama' was rather poorly thought out in comparison with the darker portions of the story. Shinkurou being a freelance vampire hunter, a private detective, and going to school at the same time is not a believable setting, no matter how you look at it. For similar reasons, some aspects of the story might grate on some people, even though the overall effect of the plot is pleasing. I will say that in comparison to Luna's path, the other paths are a lot shorter, but that doesn't actually seem to cause any problems with enjoying them.

Visuals 9/10- As is seen in the pic above, the cgs in this game are quite excellent, and I found the character designs to be well-suited to the personalities of the characters involved. Francisca in particular... leaves a strong impression due to the gap between her outward appearance and her expressions/personality.

Sound 8/10- I took some points off of this section because the music itself is really generic as vn music goes, but since it is used appropriately, I definitely give this eroge's sound a passing grade. The character voices are very high quality, and some performances will leave a definite lasting impression for some people (Lynne's and Sayaka's in particular come to mind).

Overall 7.5/10- For vampire lovers, I can honestly recommend this eroge without reservations. For lovers of action eroges... a decent enough choice. For those seeking comedy/slice of life I can't really recommend this though. Overall, this is a decent eroge that I found to be worth playing, and the plot is good enough overall that it will remain in my memories for a while at least. I'm pretty sure people that go in expecting something extreme will be disappointed, as that was my biggest disappointment with it at first, but once you get past that disappointment, this game is quite enjoyable.

Review: Gokudou no Hanayome

The story of this VN focuses around Gokudouin Yuuichi, the successor to the head of a yakuza family whose power and influence spread to all corners of the world at one time, but is now greatly weakened due to the long period in which its leadership has been left to substitutes. Yuuichi, who had pretty much assumed that he would continue to live a normal life, is one day visited by a young woman, Habutae Asahi, who proclaims that she has come to marry him and help restore the power of his group in order to stabilize the underworld, which has become chaotic due to the void left behind by Gokudouin's growing weakness.



Plot 5/10- I could say a lot of things about this VN's plot... but to be frank it is really unbalanced. While the concept itself is interesting, and the characters are - mostly - decent as heroines go, the game is a drama/action/comedy that leaned a little bit too much toward the comedy portions, even at the parts where it should have been most serious. In particular, Amelia's path is ridiculous (as is her extremely annoying character). Of course, there were redeeming factors to the plot... in particular I was fond of the over-the-top fight scenes with the girls smashing their way through all enemies that dared to stand before them. However, the ridiculous aspects ate away at the parts of the story where it should have gotten down to business, making it difficult to hold a proper sense of tension, even when it really, truly felt like you should.

Visuals 9/10: Have to say I love the character design and artwork in this VN. I would even go so far as to call certain CGs - since I avoid major spoilers by policy, I'll leave it at that - were masterpieces in and of themselves. I really have no complaints at all about the visual aspect of this VN and would even go so far as to praise it without a bit of restraint.

Sound 8/10- The music in this game... made me really want to give this a 10/10. I'll still be recalling certain bgms years from now. However... the places where they use some of the songs are kind of inappropriate, and so I had to take points off for that. In particular, their overuse of my favorite theme - a really solemn one that brings a tear to the eye and seriously touches the heart - got used at a lot of inappropriate points. To be blunt, it didn't get used during the solemn scenes and made appearances in a lot of the h-scenes. When a cheery song flashes during a scene that needs a song meant to draw tears from your eyes, you are definitely going to feel something is wrong.

Overall 6/10: Overall, this game had enormous potential, with the concept of restoring a great yakuza family to power and the encroachments of a mysterious new force in the underworld... but it tried too hard to be funny at all the wrong points, inserting absurd story elements at points where they could only get in the way. From a visual and musical perspective, it is an excellent game. Which just makes it unfortunate that the story lags behind far enough to drag the rest of the game into the dirt.

Review: Ikusa Megami Zero

After fierce battles between gods, two different worlds joined to become a new one. Celica was born there and to protect innocents, he battles against monsters as a paladin of Barouhart, god of storms.

With a clear sense of justice and great skill with the blade, some call him a Hero. However after he meets a wandering seeker of knowledge and is tasked with purifying an ancient evil artifact, he begins to question his beliefs as he is drawn and more into events involving ancient prophecies, ancient gods and demon gods.

This is the prequel to the Ikusa Megami Series and covers the events that led Celica to be known as a God Slayer.

~taken from vndb


Plot 8.5/10- This is only my second rpg/VN and I have to say it is the best choice I've made in a while for games to play. Celica's meeting with Satia and the series of events that follow, full of love, hate, idealism, religious zealotry and all the other follies of human existence make this a truly interesting story, even for people who haven't played the other games (which I haven't, yet). For those who want an epic fantasy rpg story done in eroge style... this is probably one of the best choices you could come across. Unlike most VNs, I can't say I liked this because of the protagonist... rather it was the characters around him and their reactions to him that made the story flow so well. The greatest weakness of the story though is the sheer emotional impact of the end of the first part of the game is so overwhelming that what happens in the rest of the game just can't match up, except from an intellectual point of view.

Visual 9/10- Really, the visual quality of this game is so self-evident I almost couldn't bring myself to rate it. If there is one part of this game's visual aspect I didn't like it was the way they made the battle system look, with your attacks hitting a card representing the enemies rather than directly striking the enemies themselves... however, as that is a personal aesthetic preference, I don't think it should effect the rating I give this.

Sound 9/10- The music in this game just screams 'jrpg!!!' to you the second you start it up... and that is a good thing. For those who are sick of rpgs where the music is overblown and doesn't engage your emotions with the scenes you are watching, this game is an excellent choice. In particular, certain of the combat and dark scene bgms are really striking and will probably remain in my memory years from now. The voices were all very well fitted to the characters, with no real irritating choices to grate on the ears, so I can recommend this on that count as well.

Gameplay 7/10- Similar to old favorites like Grandia, this game uses a skill system where you gain the next level of any individual type of skill by using skills from that type over and over again. However, because of the sheer length of time it can take to say... max out your basic weapon skill (to let you use the ultimate weapons) or Rita's Ice magic... this can be an incredibly tedious process. For those getting new characters, be certain to set their advancement paths to what you think they should be used for or it'll automatically try to turn them into pure attackers... which I didn't figure out until the game was two thirds over so I had a pure mage character who had ended up focused entirely on physical strength...lol The battle system itself is a relatively standard one where your attacks and skills require a certain amount of time to build up and be unleashed, then a cooldown time afterward before that character gets a turn again. Because of this, the game can easily be interpreted as trying to force you down a certain path from the start for each individual characters, as some skills and attacks have really, really long cooldown times. (Rita's spear skills, for all their attack power, have such a long cooldown that it almost isn't worth it to max them out).

Battle screen



Celica's advancement screen


Unlike the others, you direct how he gains levels by actually putting the points into specific parameters. In my case, I just leveled them equally as I went, which worked out really well in the end, as he became an all-around powerhouse.

Other characters' advancement screen



With the other characters, you simply set a general path for their parameters to grow, and they automatically grow that way as long as you don't change it. Circle inside a circle is intense focus, circle is average focus, triangle is less focus, and x is no focus.


Overall- 8.5/10- Overall, this is one of the best rpgs I've played in the last few years... which is ironic, considering how many big-name games I've played during that time. For those looking for an eroge/rpg combo to play, I highly recommend this to wash away some of the truly foul rpg experiences of the last few years.

Review: Heliotrope- Sore wa, Shi ni Ataru Kami no Ai

There is a mysterious phenomenon that some people are given a divine power, but also given a terrible curse that will eventually claim their lives. Yashiro, the protagonist, has been living in despair for the half-year since his parents and little sister vanished, leaving him believing they abandoned him. One day, on the beach at night, he meets a talking starfish and suddenly finds himself falling into the ocean, where a girl gives him the sword, Laevateinn. Like this, he gets involved in a battle involving a mysterious island that will decide the fate of the world.

~Modified from the vndb summary


Plot 6/10 (if you hate self-pitying protagonists as much as I do) 7.5/10 (if you can stand self-pitying protagonists)- The plot of this story has a really great premise, with the world being protected by a system that takes a single Shingansha (the magic/espers of the story) as a Sacrifice that protects reality from the effects of human emotions. Unfortunately, it is harmed both by its hetare protagonist, who is driven to suicidal thoughts by relatively minor matters and doesn't seem to ever really get his act together, and terrible pacing at the beginning of the story, where you are thrown into the action without a chance to get to love most of the characters. The three heroines, Yuzuka, Mitsuba, and Iris are amongst some of the better ones I've encountered, with Iris' story in particular drawing in the player's emotions strongly. Unfortunately, due to the pacing problems I mentioned before, the story often feels rushed, to the point where you have to almost wonder what the hell is going on.

Visuals 8.5/10- I really, really like the visual style of this VN... the character designs, the action CGs, and the backgrounds are all really well done, leaving a strong impression on the player. I really can't name any part of the visuals I didn't like, to be honest.

Sound 8/10- For the bgms in this story, I'd love to give this a 10/10, but the voices during certain scenes (Mitsuba's voice when she goes psycho) are a little annoying.

Overall 7/10 (if you hate weak-willed protagonists) 7.5/10 (if weak-willed protagonists don't bother you)- Overall this VN is one of the better ones I've played recently, despite certain weak points in the plot and with the voices. I'd definitely recommend it for someone who wants a quick, dark story with a set of characters that grow on you (if you can get past the game's rather abrupt beginning).