~ I'm tired of all the mediocre romance anime, so I've started reading Visual Novels. ~
~ I'll be keeping track of the ones I've played, with my brief thoughts on them. ~
My first VN and a budget title at that, but this in turn allows it to have one of the most extensive choice systems I've seen. Rather interesting how it uses characters with physical disabilities, but not all the girls were interesting. I enjoyed the legless girl the most, though the burnt girl and deaf girls were both enjoyable enough. Never bothered to complete the blind girl or the armless one. Damn, saying all that just makes it seem exploitive.
A rather odd yet interesting plot & setting, that took me a while to fully get into. Didn't help that the protagonist comes across as an arrogant S.O.B. But eventually the male protag becomes less of an ass and the girls become less annoying & more endearing, when they get their time to shine. Overall I enjoyed how intense it got at times and I wonder if something like this could even be adapted well, into an anime.
Great for the fans of the original, who are looking for some closure on the routes they've completed. However the actual "closure" comes in the form of some rather bland continuation arcs for the four girls. There's also an omake, which I couldn't be bother with and a prequel arc that pretty much makes this VN worth the price of admission on its own.
Swan Song Routes Completed: 1/1 (multiple endings) Grade: B+
An amazing story about survival, along with the degradation of society and moral values. Interesting that there were multiple main characters and of both genders and that every single character undergoes some development (not always for the better). Problem is that although the atmosphere was tense and the story was gripping, I did not enjoy it and found myself growing more and more depressed as I played it. At least I'll never forget it...
Only did the main route, after hearing that the secondary route is pretty garbage in comparison. And what an odd setting for a visual novel, yet no matter how absurd the premise may seem, it still managed to capture me. I think it's because I got so immersed in its heart-warming tale, that I actually believed I was playing with bitches (term used appropriately in this case) . Nevertheless you may still be arrested for playing this VN in some countries. Enjoy :D
This could actually be a good visual novel, but I found both the story and characters to be so painfully uninteresting that after 1 month of trying to finish it, I just couldn't be arsed. If a day comes when I'm so bored and have no other VN to play, I may actually complete at least one route of this, because it cannot be that bad... right?
A rather simple, linear, high school romance story; which I enjoyed because the relationship was establish fairly early on. This led to the whole "living together" aspect, which further led to some interesting back story. The overall story is good but the lack of any real choice does hurt it.
Some amazing routes to play through and one in particular that stood out to me as one of the best in any visual novel I've come across. As of writing this, Grisaia no Kajitsu is my all time favourite VN, with the best fan-translated script, spawning some of the funniest dialogue imaginable. Even if I liked Amane's & Yumiko's route the most out of all of them, none of the routes were bad or even mediocre. It also has the best male protagonist I've seen of any VN so far (Juicy Yuuji), mainly because he feels like an amalgamation of my 2 favourite anime male protags (Kyon & Sousuke Sagara). Grisaia no Kajitsu is funny, sad, intense and overall satisfying. The common route is a bit too long and repetitive but even that got me laughing out loud, from time to time. Now I wonder how the anime adaptation will butcher this.
A linear story dealing with crime, an intricate game of cat & mouse, with a dash of revenge thrown in the mix. Along with three decent heroine routes to play through and being closed out by one particularly intense route. The climax of this visual novel was satisfying but the plot-twist towards the end does open up a couple plot-holes of its own.
A very well made VN, with an interesting "point system" to go along with its large number of playable heroine routes. However with its large cast, there are bound to be those that I liked more than others. Here's a list of what I thought of the girls I followed: Kohane = Sweet & Light-hearted, Aoi = Good chemistry, Rin = No chemistry & Boring, Yukina = Alluring but WTF, Tsuzumi = Cute oddball, Miyu = Dull but good in the bed, Asahi = OTP. Artwork is OK but it takes some getting used to.
The moment I saw the game's opening, I immediately recognized it has something by Makoto Shinkai and I guess even he has to start somewhere, like in this mediocre VN. The majority of the VNs I've experienced really thrive on giving some very important choices all the way through, but going through this felt like none of my choices even mattered, until the very end (when picking the girl). Then after that it's pretty much the same rehashed ending story but with the chosen girl.
Nice, sweet story but a rather tame one at that. I like how it promotes replay-ability, but dislike that I am forced to go through character routes I do not wish to, just to experience the full story. Because of that I stopped playing after doing the follow routes (Asuho, Komomo, Kosame & Isuzu) and the thought of doing Chinami's route just to unlock the special ones... Nope... Not worth. Also no matter how hard it tries, it simply wasn't funny and it's made worse because the same jokes are lazily repeated over & over again, in hopes that it will become funny. Well it doesn't. Probably just the writer's way to earn more cash for his KB of text.
Rewrite is my 1st experience with a Key Visual Novel, since it's the only one I haven't seen an anime adaptation for and it ended up being a great experience, but completely different from all the other Key VNs. I in particular liked how more and more of the "bigger picture" was revealed after completing each route. Especially when completing them, in a certain order, gives it a tighter narrative. And I couldn't help but appreciate how it constantly switched perspectives, between the protagonist, heroines and even side characters. Lucia & Akane's route happened to be my favourites but both we're equally depressing and filled with despair. Overall Rewrite just wasn't compelling enough to completely hold my interest, as I constantly found ways to distract myself. In the end it took me 2 months longer than it should have, just to finish it.
Felt like trying a Yuri visual novel for a change and found this short little read. Honestly there's nothing to this one, no huge twist or interesting plot/setting. Just two school-girls who like each other, they quickly end up "tipping the velvet"... ...The End. Basically Maria-sama ga Miteru, but with sex... lots and lots of sex. Nothing more substantial than that and I've never found sex so tedious.
Having experienced Comyu, from start to finish, I have developed somewhat of a "love / hate" relationship with it. I loved how it introduced the plot and how it felt like a non-interactive JRPG at the start, but I hated some of the random ass stories that spawned from it. I loved that the male protagonist was very active (maybe too sexually active), and hated how much of a hypocritical asshole he could be at times. I loved Kagome and the voice actress behind her character, yet I hated that her route was gated behind the completion of all the other girls (especially the 2 random unimportant ones). I loved some of the clever dialogue between the main protagonist and certain characters like the King & Kagome, but I will forever hate how the main protagonist will always " ...remember the red colour".
A common route so painfully dull and uninteresting, it made it difficult to get to the actual heroine's routes. I ended up blitzing my way through the common route, including a lot of the student council election and which later turned out to be Chisato's route I was forced into. And though I didn't mind Chisato's route, I didn't like how it was forced upon me, at a time when going with poor Isara felt natural. Then I moved onto Satsuki's, skipping all the repeated crap and I absolutely loved her VA. Followed this with Isara, that quickly went from frustration to full on melancholy. After that I couldn't be bothered enough to finish the last 2 girls.
So far, out of all the VNs I've gone through above, this is one is the most professionally made, with extensive options menus and decent resolution options (lacks 1080p though). It is not that long into the story that it is incredibly noticeable that the writer for this VN, either worked in aviation or is just deeply fascinated by it. Seeing how an extensive amount of knowledge on aviation is shoved in here, which I actually learnt a bit from. There's a lot of padding, whereby things are unnecessarily over explained, far too often. But at least it does without the teenage angst or melodrama. It's a shame that even with all these routes, it tells the story with few deviations, once entering the various routes.
The problem is that a lot of the time, the drama had no weight to it.
