VN - Others - Completed - Galzoo Island [v1.29] [AliceSoft]

Definitely good. The game is pretty difficult in terms of routing and requires a pretty big time sink in terms of that. The H-Elements are pretty good and the combat is actually decently interesting. Main personal problem is that its not really the type of game for me personally. I would have liked it to be more casual personally. And the casual modes do prevent you from gaining certain things. Yeah i would rather play other games for that experience tbh. Could see the quality of it though. Its got that sorta nick to it that i could see someone really clicking with it.

"personally" did not enjoy.

Hello! It's me, Illidan! Today i will review this hgame. It's pretty old and filled with plenty of text hgame, not many games does such thing lately. Especially voicing all girls and male NPCs. Anyway... I will review this game by such categories : Translation, Story, Gameplay, Hscenes.

Let's start!
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Translation 5/5 - I have 0 issues with translation. Reading it, doesnt't feel strange or awkward.

Story 4-5/5 - Well... I consider story of this hgame as good one. Of course everything could have ended if main villain simply acted with his subordinates and everything would have ended. But i do find charm in story of this game. There is plenty of mini events with various Gal girls and some hscenes mixed in these events. You can feel more soul in these mini events, than in some atrociously bad hgames which you can regularly see in F95zone, or in poorly written NTR game. Not to mention, that setting here connected to Rance world, though i do question lack of lvl limit of MC... Because only Rance supposed to lack it and be able to lvl up infinitely.
Anyway! Story and various events with gal girls, certainly deserve 4-5 rating

Gameplay 2-3/5 - Not the best part of the game... It's very difficult to complete game in one go, without guide in certain moments. I did like everything without guide, because it was intuitively understandable, but still required to spend a lot of time. Not to mention that you need to farm lvls... Materials... And do many other things. Also time limit, severely punishes you for being slow, by taking away girls you failed to capture, or leading to bad end. Sometimes you also will have issues with capturing certain girls, because they have conditions to do that. How you are supposed to know that? Well... Idkn... Read the guide

Hscenes 4-5/5 - There is not much HCGs... Unless you count that every single girl, have at least 2 of them and some have h events, which can't be achieved by simply having max affection. I really like old Alice Soft games, drawing style

Btw.... Regarding Valkyrie torture. You just need to win twice, fight against Thunder Taiko and you won't see such scene. Yeah... You need to be strong enough to do that and save all your strongest skills to do that.

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Conclusion 4.5/5 - Pretty good, old Alice Soft Hgame. Finally something good, among pile of trashy hgames which releases lately

Game is 1 part lewd game and 19 parts crappy dungeon crawler. You could remove the hentai parts of this and this game would not change significantly neithet your experience with it. Grind to lewd ratio is ridiculous.

I wanna preface this by saying the translation team did an amazing job here. they even translated the images! the amount of redrawing done there must have been a nightmare to work with.

as for the game itself, this is a game released in 2005. by 2005 standards I can see why the game was great for its time. that also means if you're playing this on 2024 standards then you will be disappointed. gotta say I must appreciate how gaming as a whole changed. and i don't mean the sweet baby inc and DEI (this should seriously DIE. seriously.) kind of 2024 standard.

with so let me list the downsides of this game by 2024 standards

1. massive lack of info. for one, the game never tells you what characters do if you let them stay in the party at certain hours of the day of the game. for example, don't have Vanilla in dinner time, she will force you to eat her horrible cooking and thus your hp will not restore. and then there's Sketch, that gives massive exp when she releases her "artwork" in the wild and you encounter it. you have to find this out by actually committing to that particular character.

2. the all-too-hated RNG. nothing that cheat engine can solve. but that also raises another problem: if you have to cheat, are you really still playing a game? RNG drops also mean you really cannot strategize a lot. also, since you can only equip ONE equip per character, and you only have 5 characters at play, then there's really not much to strategize. how many times did I wished that the drop should have been a stat boosting consumable instead. but yeah, this is a massive problem with RNG.

3. writing. after thinking about it, the problem with the game's premise is it can't stay consistent. does it want to be a non-serious story or a serious story? the villain is just a weak pathetic squid that decided to confess to his love interest. she said yes to his surprise, but then a mysterious asteroid falls down and gave him incredible powers. said power made him prideful and then suddenly thinks his love interest is no longer worth it, tries to look for other candidates. though there are obvious hints that he still cares for her more than anyone else which cements his tsundere tendencies. this is fine and all but when you include rape and torture to the other girls just because he has a big head and prideful? massive problem.

again, I can see why this game would be good in 2005. in retrospect I also have to admonish myself what was I thinking that the old times were better? but you know what? I wouldn't have appreciated and admonished myself if I never played an ol game like this and have that retrospection. in that respect, the game did a great job representing what an old game looks and feels like to the minute detail. i hate that i love it, and i love that i hate it.

This is a game at a transition stage in terms of mentality. There's convenience, speed (concern to make things enjoyable) but they are accompanied by "old school" time management, and punishing losses (you don't learn, you try until it works). With this in mind, having played older Alicesoft titles is not a requirement, it is however, recommended (being used to older games - 20+ years - helps too). If you don't meet the criteria, grasping the basics (test run), restarting and following a guide, allows you to get the harem ending (first playthrough) in 55 in-game days (give or take). Let's assume you want to find everything on your own: Good luck! Here's hoping you have a lot of time (and patience) on your hands.

Positive:
- Gal monsters - If you like monster girls, they are not it. In essence you have common archetype personalities, and their looks are lacking in diversity (the complaint is body type). What's really boosting their appeal are quirks, and unique events. For instance, all of them have "chibi" versions, some give you items, particular characters like or dislike each other, they might run away (leave the party)... The little things show care, and attention to detail. Having favorites is a thing too, playing in normal mode doesn't require optimization.

- Lighthearted and enjoyable read - The exception being some rape scenes out of place. Disregarding that, the banter between characters, the Gal reincarnation mechanics, references to previous games, the usual tropes (well executed), and more things, lead to a nice atmosphere and a fun, casual "isekai" adventure.

- Gameplay - This is important: "Galzoo" is not a hard game. The "old school" feeling comes from lack of information, and unavoidable ways to waste in-game time. The core gameplay loop (each day) is a good mix between dungeon crawler and story. Start the day → Scavenge → Check shops → Adjust party → Dungeon → night event (possible H), and many scenes in between. It's satisfying, and easy to understand.

Negative:
- Rape scenes - They are fine (or more than fine) in the right context, in this game not so much. You can't have the big bad guy be goofy, indecisive (likable even), and then he orders brutal (blood, drugs) sexual torture on one of the "Gals". It's a strange dichotomy, even if it's not unexpected (dev). Tentacles and ecstasy, sure. Actual cruelty/messing with feelings needed another setting.

Score: 7/10. Do follow a guide, there's 2 in english, and 1 Japanese, they should cover all your bases. Be ready to repeat days (reload), even when following instructions. With the right mindset (preparation), this can be a great experience. Coming here with current gaming standards as compass, is asking for infuriation.

(H-scenes in general are not great, there are exceptions in terms of concept, though).