VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Sable's Grimoire [Final] [Zetsubou]

This game is so good!! The story and heroine characters are it's strong points. The only con is the MC, who is easily the worst character in this game, his personality is boring, abrasive, stubborn, and worst of all, anti-romance, which is fucking sad. That being said, if you can push thru all that, then you will find a beautiful written story with multiple routes and endings. No explicit sexual content which is a shame but it is what it is.

There is no sexual content in this game.

It is not a romance game either. The main character is a castrated wuss that turns down every single advance from his female friends. It is frustrating, really.

Honestly, I don't know what this game is about. Because not once did I see or hear anything about a grimoire.

We go to this academy and take classes. We make some choises that lead us into different paths. But MC only cares about his research. It is annoying because the game hints romance just to have Sable dismiss it altogether. Then the game ends.

There are multiple endings and depending on which you get you will play a different sequel game.

The story might become interesting if Sable grows a pair or finds his grimoire.

Review for version: Final

Sable's Grimoire tells the story of Sable Labyre, a human male who has the the ability to use magic, as he begins his first day at Amadronia Academy designed to teach young mages how to use magic. The academy is comprised of, mostly, demi-human students and faculty as it is rare for humans to have the ability to use magic.

As he waits at the train station, he meets a young girl named Rei. Rei is a Rokurokubian, a demi-human who looks human but has elastic properties. She is extremely cheerful, nieve and a bit of a glutton, begging and mooching off of other students for food. After arriving, he then meets Drakan, a female half-Human/Dragon. Boisterous, loud and friendly, her dragon half often overshadows her human half, frightening others around her as dragons are legendary beings that terrify other races.

The next person he meets is Eth. Eth is a female mandragora, a plant species demi-human. Quiet but honest, she becomes Rei's best friend and, together, they constantly bug Sable with their antics and attitude, which explains why they are the lowest ranked first year students.

Being assigned to the female dorms due to his name being unisex, he meets his roommate, Tix, a fairy who arrived in hopes of finding a mate as well as a safe place to raise her children once born. The last student he meets is Lisha, an Elf and the daughter of the academy's principal. She is the valedictorian of the first year students, which causes her to be distant towards other students and extremely arrogant.

Other student and staff include:
Hel, a faceless and rather androgynous demi-human who uses illusion magic while she constantly flirts with Sable.
Narm, a fellow human male who openly hates demi-humans and joins "The Hunt" eagerly.
Jurou, a third-year Arachnid demi-human who spends all of her time in the academy library, digitizing the enormous number of books there.
Eris, Sable's Succubus teacher who is completely disinterested in her role as a first-year teacher.
Raphael, an Angel that heads the academy's infirmary who seems to antagonize Eris whenever she can, keeping the Succubus on the defensive.
Ein, the academy's principle and Lisha's father.
Nidhogg, Drakan's mother and legendary, all-around terrifying dragon said to gnaw at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree of life.

On his first day, he does something extremely dangerous and foolish in an attempt to show off during his first practical magic class. It is at this point that his experience in the academy completely changes. Based on his choices from that point onwards, the friends he makes, keeps or loses will define his stay. From the choice of taking part in a controversial campaign called "The Hunt" to defending others based on their choices, the story stays interesting throughout.

The writing is very well done. There are a few typographical errors but, for the most part, you will not struggle with reading the text. It can get a bit too wordy at times but never to the point of getting boring. This VN has two companion titles to go with it. One continues with Lisha and the MC if you went that route while the other continues with Drakan and the MC if you went with that one.

I have played through this VN twice, once with Tix's route and once with Drakan's and I was happy with both arcs. I won't delve into them as to avoid spoilers but I will say that Drakan's companion title really added to the story in this VN, and a review will be posted for that soon. As usual, I cannot speak for the audio side of things as I mute games when I play them.

All-in-all, I was very happy with this title. It took me approximately ten to fifteen hours each for both of the arcs I went with. This is a story-heavy VN with a couple of nude scenes. None in Drakan's arc as they don't reach a romantic/sexual relationship until the "A Dragon's Treasure" companion title nears it's conclusion (hooking up with a dragon is no small/easy feat) as it would have felt rushed, otherwise. Tix is regularly in the nude but it is tasteful with her hair covering her breasts.

For story lovers, I highly recommend this title and it's companion titles. Definitely a keeper for my tablet's growing list of AIF titles that stay installed.

I didn't expect much, but Sable's Grimoire has pleasantly surprised my with interesting, captivating, well written story, and fun, likeable characters. Graphical aspect of the game is slightly worse, but still very much ok, same thing can be said about music which fit well with what's happening on the screen, but isn't very memorable by itself.

The story and characters are very interesting at the start and their development. There is no explicit sexual content, but there is certainly romance. The art is great too, and there is a handful of partial nudity. And there is one where Rei 'tries to seduce' the protagonist by showing her legs. I like that one.

One of my favorite parts is that the protagonist is no wimp, he has clear objectives and always keep that in mind. He also has flaws, which make it easier to relate to.

The route map is something that I have never seen before, yet I now want it everywhere. It really is a great feature.

I have very few complaints, and they're mainly based on the endings, so I shall hide them in spoilers:

Most of the people who would play this already have and probably won't see this, but for those who do, know that this game is worth your time.

A lot of people here (seemingly) get hung up on the no sexual content, and while it is a missed opportunity to take some chances with some creative erotic situations, it isn't the only thing this game misses out on.

Originally I was gonna give this game 3 stars, but I realized that was only due to my own disappointment with it instead of how the game actually was. Make no bones about it, this game is good. It's a good game that is entirely story driven. It gives a good amount of choices which will set you on different routes. There's about 14 different endings to grab for you completionist out there. There are only abut 5 main route to my knowledge. Some feel like they've been more fleshed out and focused on than others.

In those, the endings are.... Solid, but they leave a lot to be desired. This is why I was thinking of just giving it 3 stars. I feel like if you're not selling through sex , then you have to sell through the story. While the story is good and it does draw you in, the endings feel lackluster and like there should be more in store. Now if there's a sequel planned, I don't know of it, but it would make sense here. It feels like there's a lot more that could be explored by the time the end comes, and it leaves you feeling disappointed or at least it did with me.

Aside from the ending, the world lore and the story telling is good. Barely any grammatical errors, like I think I might have noticed one. The characters are good. Wish we could see a bit more of the people and different kinds of species in this world, but ehh, the creator had a vision and stuck too it. They didn't overload us with too much, or make things too heavy.

The characters are great, and they feel distinctively different from one another. In my opinion each one brings something interesting to the table. I went in only expecting to do two of the routes, but I ended up continuing to go on afterwards, out of curiosity for the other routes.

All in all, if you're looking for a good game with magic in it, with a good story, good characters, and good dialogue between them, then this game will satisfy you if you can get past the no sex content. It's definitely worth the time investment. You may feel like you want more at the end of some of the routes, but you definitely won't regret the time you spent on it. It's a good but not great game.

Sort of a half assed fantasy world that never the less takes its self and its characters seriously. Has good internal consistency, dialogue, and exploration of its concepts and world. Played it to 100% and enjoyed my self most the while and as such will be buying it.