I was pretty skeptical going into this game as I've been extremely disappointed in the past with certain games that claim to be heavily story driven with quality writing. I also tend to gravitate towards harem games or ones that have decisions late enough that I can experience as much as possible (or at least all the paths that interest me) in minimal playthroughs. The only thing that got me curious about this game was the glowing praise from others. Having now finished my first playthrough and planning to come back for more, I have to say others were largely right and this is something that really deserves to be experienced (by most). This is an amazing emotional ride that can get very heavy at times but is also filled with enough humor, positivity, and just plain upbeat fun that it's a joy to spend time with. I feel like this actually delivers on everything promised in its description and then some.
Time to delve into the details and I'll start with the highly touted writing. While it wasn't a something I'd categorize as any sort of literary masterpiece, the storytelling itself was exceptionally well done. Everything was so well connected between the visual, audio, and written presentations that one really needs to keep in mind that in this case the whole really is greater than the sum of it's parts. I will try to break it down a bit though...
- Writing: The dialogue is where things really shined for me. There's a ton of great banter, running gags, and references/callbacks between the characters which I found both relatable and entertaining. The plot itself does require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief at certain points but is otherwise quite compelling. My only slight gripes in this department mostly revolve around spelling out certain things perhaps a bit too much at times while leaving other parts to largely make your own inferences about completely. Other pretty minor issues for me were mostly to do with specifics of certain scenes but overall the story seems to accomplish what it set out to. Not everything was perfect, but this felt like a well planned out story rather than something made up a piece at a time.
- Characters: While this is ultimately a story involving a group of people, everyone definitely has their own things going on and the story does a good job of making most of them interesting and endearing. I felt myself unexpectedly falling for most of the girls as the story went on and wanting to know more about them and their situations. Additionally, the MC himself (not to mention his best bud) I found to be a surprisingly good (and entertaining) character in his own right which is kind of rare.
- Visual Story Presentation: The author did a fantastic job of fairly seamlessly blending stills, short still-based anims, pans, transitions, fully animated video clips and other techniques very creatively to do some incredible visual story telling. Character expressions were often priceless and consistently really well done which goes a long a way in this department as well.
- Music: The usage of music in this game was fantastic and helped either support the mood or really drive home the emotional tone in a lot of scenes. A lot of care seemed to be taken in getting the right music and the way it really enhanced certain scenes was something one normally only gets out of movies or shows with good soundtracks.
-Decisions: In this game they can definitely have a significant effect on how the story plays out beyond just some extra lines of dialogue or one off scenes. Whether that's a positive or negative in your book is up to how you like your gaming. I will say I was expecting to do maybe a couple different routes and now I really want to try most of them.
Visuals in general: Not quite top of the line but pretty darn close as far as completed games go. Renders were very solid - great composition and lighting. Character models were generally good and varied enough though not necessarily all as instantly attractive (quite subjective I realize) or visually stunning as some other titles, but this is more than made up for through the presentation and characterization.
Weaker points of the game:
- The animations for the handful of intimate scenes you get on each route are all over the place in terms of quality. I know it wasn't the focal point of the game but it is part of it. Maybe it was a learning experience, I'm not sure. In general, if animation quality detracts from a scene I'd rather have a series of well posed/framed still renders combined with well written prose instead.
- The route decision is made at what seems like a pretty early stage of the game that felt a bit premature and then you're generally locked into it from that point forward. At the point it happens there are characters you still hardly know. It wouldn't have changed my first choice, but it seemed odd.
- The Romatic/Flirty/Sporty stat system seemed pretty out of place in this game and really only drove me to make certain decisions for the sake of building the stats where I may not have otherwise. Minor nitpick there.
Wrapping up:
Not everything is perfect, but this is was a truly entertaining time that somehow worked well in managing to juggle some amount of escapism and a good dose of levity with with some subjects that may be a bit too real and can hit a bit too close to home for some of us. Though there are enough adult antics going on throughout the game to keep it kinda spicy, this is primarily emotional porn rather than a what's usually found in most AVNs. If you're good with that, in a place mentally where reflecting on serious subject matter (including a lot to do with mental illness), and can handle some serious emotional ups and downs, then I highly recommend this game. I'd also recommend only playing when you know you'll have more than enough time blocked out to do so as it can be very addictive once you get into it and there are sections you'll absolutely not want to have to stop on.
