VN - Others - Completed - Hello Lady! - Complete Edition [v2.01] [Akatsuki Works]

This so far has been my favorite VN and I played way too much to want to admit. The story references many great works in literature specifically Shakespeare. It may seem like a generic overpower main character story at first because it becomes more interesting than that because in the extras or the main story(no route) he is even more powerful in which rather than using physical techniques he goes into using his ability. The romance between MC and FMC is interesting and wholesome, and the world building is great.
I know i gave it 5 * but I'll be honest I can see some things others may not like.
Pros:
Voice Acting
Amazing OSTs
Good Female Routes(Saku is the best)
Wholesome
Custom Picture Scene Extra
Cons:
Only ~3 Scenes per character(although technically more if you count the customizable picture thing they have)
Forced to play through all routes to get story
Only can pick two routes at the beginning which then allows access to the others.

Really wish i could rate 2.5

The story is the best part of this game, it is straight forward but interesting enough to keep you playing, the only downside is the terribe way its constructed with the route order being enforced.

This is the first game i have ever played where i think it would have been better as a true kenetic novel instead of a fake one, it gives you "choices" of where to go and who to see but in reality you dont, so you probably will stumble on to one of the needed ends by accident and lots of dead ends but getting through the whole story will require a walkthrough.

The characters are nice and quite different if a bit obvious but because of the story being route inforced you have no choice of who to like, you need to do them all
to see the story so the tags like "dating sim" and "romance" really dont apply to this game.

Adult scenes are good but lack an interesting focus i.e. they are just standard sex positions you could find anywhere and censored aswell so really nothing special.

Story 3/5 (Interesting)
Sex 2/5 (Ok)
Characters 2,5/5 (Not bad)
Art 4/5 (Quite good)
Choices 1/5 (Route enforced)
Kinks 1/5 (No major ones)

This game is not as good as its predecessor by that I mean Black Dragon in the Gentle Kingdom. I bring this up for two reasons one this VN has a fair number of mechanical flaws/bad design decisions that annoyed me on there own and two those problems did not exist in that earlier title which to me means the studio has regressed.
Hello Lady certainly starts off strong but it has two things hounding it all the way through, 1) its annoying route system. normally a VN either constricts your choices if it wants you to go down an intended route or it quickly gives you a bad ending for making a wrong choice and sends you back. Alternatively a VN could open up all routes and have the sum of your choices decide which route you're on. Hello Lady instead strings you along the entire course of the pre-route lock-in section and then says "surprise asshole you had to play a very specific way to get a route and check the config to make sure, if you don't here's a bad ending start again". Hello Lady is mechanically frustrating but the problem is deeper. Due to the nature of its story you can find out pretty much everything going on in the background (except for the final twist) in the first two routes, the third route does have a massive twist but overall you know most of the story and there's little to nothing left to find out on top of hearing the MC drone on and on about himself and what he is. Akatsuki Works have done better than this in the past

Even if you've played a bunch of other VNs I promise you you'll enjoy this one. I thought the MC was kinda annoying but 10 minutes later he's one of my favorite Protags. Not only is he an absolute Chad that does whatever the fuck he wants but he pretty much gets away with that shit too. He's like Rance with class and a heart. Name another protag that gropes the tits of the heroines BEFORE their route. Legendary

Narita Shinri is the most based protagonist in all of Japanese media, and he's even fully voiced too.
The girls? I guess they exist as well, but they're just mere distractions compared to our Chad.
Has the most reasonable take on revenge I've seen in a long time. Non-of this Disney "if you kill him you're just as bad as him" bullshit, but also doesn't glorify the act and recognizes it's meaninglessness to tone down the edge.
H-scenes are there, if you're boring enough to fap to vanilla sex.
Saku is voiced by Sendai Eri, which gives it a bonus +1 star.

Some great story telling including brilliant characters and clever use of routes to build up story background.

Limited H content didn't bother me in slightest.

I only had two issues. Firstly while not opposed to comedic counterpoint in dark stories the whole molesting pervert angle failed terribly in my opinion and really wasn't needed as the female characters did the job much better. Secondly the heavy handed moralising was repetitive and incredibly simplistic, and while I did appreciate the tie to 4th route ending the final scenes totally contradicted entire build up (I would love to go into more depth but it would be a major spoiler so will bite my tongue)

This is one of the best visual novels I have played, on par with Fate/Stay Night, Aselia the Eternal, and Utawareumono, which is the highest praise I can give... It's a deep and emotional work of art. The characters are deep, the visuals are beautiful, and it provides an insightful vantage into the nature of humanity, power, truth, and justice...