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Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts

Realive リアライブ [Purple Software]

November 13, 2021
I was never fan of Purple Software yet as of now I claim Realive to be VN of the Year 2019. Curious, right?

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwGwDxf37gEkRtsaFVrm8TiT95cw_g3Lz

Character Design rating: 9/10
Protagonist rating: 10/10
Story rating: 9/10
Game quality: 10/10
Overall rating: 9/10


I did not expect much of this game, to be honest. And the way it began did not fascinate at all. Bunch of kids without any real need to change themselves for some stupid reason decided to follow instructions in an unknown mobile app to be reborn as a stronger version of themselves - and those orders of course had to be somewhat perverted leading to etchy situations. There's absolutely no sense in that, just an opportunistic moege setup pretext. But system started to get more and more complexity steadily, so soon I started to feel very involved - each of six players got different RPG-like classes , different lvl 1 tasks, after that different lvl 1 skills and so on on up to lvl 5. At that time I took the bait firmly - that creates myriads of variations to apply various skills for various situations. And tasks were only partially H-oriented and only for classes that suit the theme like idol. Most of tasks were formulated rather neutrally, especially for traditional classes like knight. So first element that lured me was gamification.

Another appealing element was flexible protagonist concept. Chihaya is only nominally protagonists. There are a lot of scenes with different girls alone or communicating with another girl. For those moments game naturally takes any other girl as protagonist or just watches the dialogue from aside. Again, it all happens very naturally and this way we don't get our share of usual irritations because of protagonist. This leads us the the third element that I adore.
Horizontal communication. I address this issue again and again in different reviews because it's that important. And Realive is the king of horizontal communication because of flexible protagonist. It's done so vividly that we can define relation between each pair of girls let alone observe numerous jokes applied to each other in conversations.

And that brings us to humor. I can't say game is humor-oriented. The bulk of humor is sekkuhara jokes and quite some teasing. It's enough to recognize its strong presence , but not to fall the level of bakage.
I'd like to return to plot again, because with explaining the setting, five tasks for each girl and receiving five skills for everyone there is just no time to spare on meaningless filler scenes. Realive basically does not have SOL scenes. Even if some scene resembles one - it's story driven and needed to gather together or prepare for task etc. No room for fillers at all. Because of this story density there's no desire to skip any scene in common route. And thanks to that there was next to zero romance during common route.

I usually rate individual routes lower than common route, and, frankly speaking, this game did not overturn the tendency. I still found myself skipping parts of individual routes that developed in an evident way to me. But this time it was not just about romance and sudden drama as there was a twist - how would heroine use rebirth chance as I did not believe they would selfishly magically get reborn themselves. And they did not disappoint. Oh, and I sincerely enjoyed Kaya route as gothic loli tsundere never gets old - and her reactions at gaming center were purely hilarious. But what's more important - individual routes feel like continuation of common route with the humor, horizontal communication and dating openly happening naturally and only gradually overflowing into individual romance.
As for true route , it was foreshadowed by multiple hooks that it would be devoted to Levi's identity. I still hoped there would be RPG-like action story on top of that, but instead identity theme just got developed deeper.

Why not 10/10 then? For me the primary criteria is whether I skip some parts or try to catch every word. Realive is not such a genius game that breaks conventional rules, but rather a skillfully crafted well designed hand-made masterpiece. If follows a set of rules that I advise for all visual novels to use to make it deep:
  • Flexible unfixed protagonist
  • Gamification
  • Additional complexity layers that do not leave time for fillers
  • Just romance is not an option, need additional element to focus during individual routes
  • Horizontal communication should be in the center
  • Mild humor and teasing is generally better than gags and bakage tilt
  • Forget about pure SOL scenes without plot meaning

Common Route 



















Satsuki End
















Kaya End





















Nemuru End



















Minato End

























True Route

































Sora no Baroque 虚空のバロック [light]

October 06, 2021

I read Sora no Baroque blindly just because I could not believe light company would release something really terrible. Somehow, I had high hopes for it despite all the worrying signs. Not going to be a coherent review, just thoughts.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwGwDxf37gEmJK5veUbZxoR5sjPFd2QCO

I don't want to rate Sora no Baroque. The reason is that it's just not the genre I can rate like I can't rate nukige or loliconge. I don't want to have anything in common with such genres let alone compare them with normal games. It's beneath the level of decency for me. This review is going to contain not story, but visual spoilers as I don't want anyone to ever read this visual novel, and I don't think anything can spoil it even more than it does on its own.

For me Sora no Baroque is a manual into corruption . It starts more or less normally, then suddenly throws a gangbang flashback instantly. Still reading? Let's see how you react at larvae-like flesh monsters. Ok, now let's see if you can stand transformed into the same creature protagonist. Wow, you're a tough one, breath deeply and take a rest from the flashbacks. We don't have time for any romance, so let's just throw in a bath with four naked girls instantly, because there's a trope that protagonist should see a naked girl to be able to treat her as a romance interest. No time to waste, so let's do it in bulk. Also, can use this scene as flashback in all the individual routes, just perfect. Now enjoy a brief plot section, because it's not going to last. 
Let's start with something light like Kamori route, shall we? Cannibalism is just ok for the start. I think some public location H and 5 CG with different stages of body devouring should be enough for now. The second mandatory route to reveal true route is Yachiru one. This time let's kidnap Yachiru and procede into a long humiliation gang bang scene. What does protagonist do when he finally comes by the end of it? He adds some more steam, of course. Let's finish with more gore and eye gouging.

So, you survived to the true Sachi route that unlocks only after two previous horrible routes? Well done. Now you probably expect the greatest route to be worthy of true route. Sucks to be you, really, because it's not that kind of game. It's a game where true route actually means true corruption route. Hope you saw "Boxing Helena" movie , because you're going to face the disgust of full dismemberment , yes, even in H scenes.
But probably I nitpick and game can be perfectly fine if disturbing scenes are skipped? Even in this case you need to accept aesthetics of bone carcasses with organs and flesh sticking out of enemies and even protagonist. I have to admit that game tries to get away from most typical corruption element - tentacles. Yes, there are tentacle-like looking arms, but usually with some bone hook on the end. Some tentacles are shown very closely, so we don't see what they constitute as a whole. I believe there was only one scene with another traditional element of corruption games - human meatwall. Lastly, although I call enemies larvae-like flesh monsters, there aren't distinctive and disgusting larvae. So what game tries to do is reinvent corruption eroge by using bone elements more than traditional tentacle and larvae elements.

What I mean is that I can't really discuss plot or heroines as I constantly want to puke thinking about this game. All these biohacking attempts of body denial and downgrading into some instruments feel alien to me even though I'm perfectly fine with cyberpunk and technology implants. Game is not as hardcore as Baggot Baits as it tries to mimic into the bone over flesh theme, but my threshold of acceptance is somewhere at 10% of what's presented in Sora no Baroque. After that it ceases to be worthy game. It has no place among decent games and thus can't be rated unless you are choosing one among corruption nukige. I'm sorry I could not get past the surface visual aesthetics, but - hey - this is my personal experience. There are some people who can discuss this game as essentially a charage with important philosophical message, but the same can be said about Mindead Blood and Maggot Baits with the right outlook, tastes and disgust threshold.

Common Route 















Kamori End




































Yachiru End























Sachi End



























Ai Yori Aoi Umi no Hate アイよりアオい海の果て [AXL]

September 04, 2021
Foreword: I have no trouble with underdeveloped futuristic settings, so I thought I could look at this game from a different perspective. Here's the result.

Dungeons & Daimeiwaku 大迷宮&大迷惑 -GREAT EDGES IN THE ABYSS- [Liar-soft]

August 10, 2021
Foreword: I'm a fan of DnD , Wizardry 8 and Japanese Wizardry series, so I could not just pass by Dungeons & Daimeiwaku. As for Mareni writing, it's a stamp of minimally acceptable quality although without a normal story it can easily go astray.

Ama no Sora Retrospect 天ノ空レトロスペクト [GLace]

August 01, 2021
Foreword: I know I was going to review Schwarzesmarken, and I quite liked the anime version, but I see zero reason to play the game after the anime. Ama no Sora Retrospect, on the other hand, seems to have zero English reviews despite the non-trivial setting, thus it fits my choice pattern nicely.

Prism Princess ~Futari no Himekishi to Kokan no Monshou~ プリズム・プリンセス ~ふたりの姫騎士と股間の紋章~[Pajamas Soft]

July 24, 2021
Foreword: Third review in a row, huh. I just had footages done beforehand. Prism Princess is a booby action with some animated H scenes which wound usually instantly put game out of my interest zone. But it has fighting heroines, plus humor is reported to be worthy, so why not check it myself. Wanted to change game several times, but found nothing to replace it within a year.

Shoujo Shin'iki ∽ Shoujo Tengoku 少女神域∽少女天獄 -The Garden of Fifth Zoa- [Lass]

July 22, 2021
Foreword: Shoujo Shin'iki has some English reviews already, but they tend to focus on negative sides  (1 2 3) even though game deserves better.

Seihou no Prismgear 星逢のプリズムギア [Elysion]

July 20, 2021
Foreword: Now when I've run out of RPGs till September 2nd and I don't feel eternally burdened by writing a review, I can finally get to it. Battle and guns is what brought this game into my sphere of interest. But is it really a chunige?

Noblelige! ノーブルリージュ! [Mana]

April 29, 2021
Foreword: I seriously neglected this game as a light novel short spin-off from an obscure maker. And guess what - it was a shocking blast akin to XBlaze Code: Embryo

Astelight Trilogy 星継駅擾乱譚 / 星継駅年代史 / 星継駅疾走軌 [raiL-soft]

April 11, 2021
Foreword: I know I'm supposed to be finally reviewing Second Novel, but I give up. It has heavy gameplay elements and I'm stuck there at some point even with walkthrough, so I probably need to waste 10 more hours brute-forcing it, which I totally don't intend to do. Wanted to record at least short stories, but they aren't in the form of visual novel - just scanned light novels or whatever in vertical format and manual page flipping, no text hooking for them. As for Astelight games,I recorded all of them in just one day (and a week more for copyright clearing), so it's a breather compared to the horrible mess of Second Novel.

Evolimit エヴォリミット [Propeller]

March 12, 2021
Foreword: It's always nice to read a work with a fresh concept

Ouka Sengoku! ~Nobunaga-chan no Koishite Yabou!?~ 桜花センゴク!~信長ちゃんの恋して野望!?~ [Apricot]

February 26, 2021
Foreword: When I face Sengoku feminization in anime I facepalm and look away, but this setting was not as frequent back in the past, so it fascinates me to try and find that one source that impressed followers so much.

Indigo [Hanpamania-Soft]

February 11, 2021
Foreword: It's an all-ages non-trivial setting doujin work of the best quality I ever seen by Watanabe Ryouichi. If that's not enough...

Soukou Akki Muramasa 装甲悪鬼村正 [Nitroplus]

December 04, 2020
Foreword: I somehow did not play this Nitroplus game earlier, but its universally high scores are intriguing. 

Sorairo そらいろ [NekoNeko Soft]

November 27, 2020
Foreword: Cover is worryingly fanservice-ish , but with Micchi and Accany praise it should not be a problem, right?

Natsu no Ame 夏ノ雨 [CUBE]

November 23, 2020
Foreword: It's a very curious game that I played in the past and then lost. Happy to find and finish it now.

Abyss -Homicide Club- 殺人クラブ [Festival]

November 19, 2020
Foreword: Abyss is one of the more known doujin games and even has a fuwanovel recommendation page. But I could find only one English review, so it needs to be fixed asap.

Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo, きっと、澄みわたる朝色よりも、[Propeller]

November 15, 2020
Foreword: Shumon Yuu work from Propeller already sounds intriguing.

Bengarachou Hakubutsushi 紅殻町博物誌 [raiL-soft]

November 11, 2020
Foreword: Another Mareni work that's worth investigating.

Reincarnation ☆ Shinsengumi! りんかねーしょん☆新撰組っ! [Libre]

November 06, 2020
Foreword: Game looks like a parody chunige with dimension shifts, so I'd like to know the story.

Zettai Karen! Ojou-sama 絶対可憐!お嬢様っ [Sumikko Soft]

November 03, 2020
Foreword: A nice otaku game always catches my attention

Trample on Schatten!! ~かげふみのうた~ ~Kagefumi no Uta~ [Tail Wind]

October 30, 2020
Foreword: A localized chunige with intriguing concept, can't miss that.

Heliotrope -Sore wa Shi ni Itaru Kami no Ai- ヘリオトロープ-それは死に至る神の愛-[Hatena]

October 26, 2020
Foreword: CGs of this game look perfect, so I decided to check out why evaluations are so different.

School Five ~Itsutsu no Himitsu no Monogatari~ すく~るふぁいぶ~五つの秘密の物語~ [DisAbel]

October 21, 2020
Foreword: It looked like a chunige with some badass weapons. And I know that previous Disabel "chunige" I rated as 5/10...

Devils Devel Concept [Akatsuki Works]

October 18, 2020
Foreword: It's Akatsuki Works. Do I need to add anything here?

Shinjisougeki Carnival 神事双劇カーニバル [Talestune]

October 15, 2020
Foreword: A translated fighting focused vn, don't see significant reasons to skip it.

Amber Quartz アンバークォーツ [Cotton Soft]

October 11, 2020
Foreword: Cotton Soft chunige are always welcome by me.

Concerto Note コンチェルトノート [Applique]

September 24, 2020
Foreword: I guess Concerto Note won the poll for extra review, because of partial English release that turned out to be a total scam covering literally only the first three minutes of the game where absolutely nothing is told, and no introductions are made. A lot of years ago I took this bait as well. Now it's time to satisfy that curiosity.

永遠の終わりに Eien no Owari ni [Tama-Soft]

September 15, 2020
Foreword: There was very limited selection of games to choose from in December, but I chose Eien no Owari ni because of phrase unfinished masterpiece that I glanced in some review. The fact that Tama-Soft made Lost Child also matters a lot for me.

Kokorono ココロノ [FlyingShine Black]

September 11, 2020
Foreword: FlyingShine was never a good brand, it only flew and shined with invited writer stars like Tanaka Romeo, Setoguchi Ren'ya and Takemiya Yuyuko. But its works always try to seem more mysterious than they are. Kokorono is just like that - a game that I can't see through from the start, so yet another time I try even though nothing good can come from it.

Volume 7 [RococoWorks]

September 07, 2020
Foreword: Dropped this game a decade ago, but I played all other RococoWorks visual novels, so I have a history with this brand, and I quite like its works.

Supreme Candy しゅぷれ~むキャンディ~王道には王道たる理由があるんです!~ [Makura]

September 03, 2020
Foreword: Took Supreme Candy for review blindly, just because of the brand, so was not sure what to expect.

Koisuru Otome 恋する式 ~SHIKIGAMI 2008~ [White Cyc]

August 30, 2020
Foreword: The only chunige of the month, so I'll even overlook the fact that the last game of White Cyc I evaluated as 2/10

Kagerou Touryuuki 霞外籠逗留記 [raiL-soft]

August 26, 2020
Foreword: I'm not a big fan of raiL-soft, absolutely hate Albatross Koukairoku. But their first game Kagerou Touryuuki is probably the best game ever done by them.

Aion Garden [LiLiM]

August 22, 2020
Foreword: LiLiM is an old and curious brand that produces high quality works of different genres. This work is chunige, so I can't pass by it. 

Nidaime wa ☆ Mahou Shoujo 二代目は☆魔法少女 [Sumikko Soft]

August 18, 2020
Foreword: Took this game for review because could not understand the gist of the game from synopsis or reviews.

Samayou Mitama ni Yasuragi no Toki o 彷徨う魂に安らぎの刻を [DisAbel]

August 14, 2020
Foreword: Game looks like a chunige, so why not try it.

Rui wa Tomo o Yobu るいは智を呼ぶ [Akatsuki Works]

August 10, 2020
Foreword: Took this game blindly for review just because I consider Coμ a full 10/10 masterpiece and want to see what games preceded it.

BIFRONTE~Kugaitou Kitan~ ~公界島奇譚~ [Lapis Blue.]

August 06, 2020
Foreword: I was impressed with art and dark atmosphere of the game, but chose it because wanted to know the plot.

Chrono Belt クロノベルト -あやかしびと&BulletButlers クロスオーバーディスク- [Propeller]

August 02, 2020
Foreword: Never faced crossovers in visual novels before, so expectations ranged from weird fandisk to something like Soukou Akki Muramasa since I rated both original games high.

Gouen no Soleil 鋼炎のソレイユ-ChaosRegion-[SkyFish]

July 29, 2020
Foreword: Could not miss probably the best game in the series. All conceptual things are given in a different review (1), so I'll slack with just an impression.

Tri☆Stars とらい☆すたーず [Clock Up team Lilac]

July 25, 2020
Foreword: Fighting heroines are inspiring, but I also wanted to pursue possible connections with Zwei Worter.

Princess Frontier [AXL]

July 21, 2020
Foreword: Fantasy AXL work. Of course I'm in.

12Riven -The Ψcliminal of Integral- [CyberFront]

July 17, 2020
Foreword: I fell in love with this game after reading a long French review a long time ago (1). Imagination went wild back then, but only now I can finally play it.

Aster [RusK]

July 13, 2020
Foreword: I'm not really good with nakige and you want me to play an utsuge? Oh, well, I'll try.

Switch!! ~Boku ga Natsu ni Omou Koto~ すいっチ!! ~ボクがナツに想うこと~ [Colon]

July 09, 2020
Foreword: Battle CG and presumption of some other dimension made me choose this game.

Garden [CUFFS]

July 05, 2020
Foreword: Was a difficult choice, in the end just chose Garden because it had slightly better scores and impressions than competitors within the month.

Love & Dead [Liar-soft]

June 29, 2020
Foreword: Chose this game just because of the brand.

Demon Parasite ~Akuma no You na Tenshi no Kanojo~ デモンパラサイト~悪魔のような天使の彼女~ [Ocelot]

June 25, 2020
Foreword: It's the only chunige of the month, so an obvious choice.

Boku ga Sadame Kimi ni wa Tsubasa o. 僕がサダメ 君には翼を。[Akatsuki Works]

June 21, 2020
Foreword: Akatsuki Works first game can't be missed.

Xvain エクスヴァイン ~Devil Out~ [Studio e.go!]

June 19, 2020
Foreword: Why is there only like two Japanese reviews for a game with this classy setting? The Japanese must have overlooked another great game, and I'm restoring it to due glory. Or so I thought.

Tsurugi Otome Noah 剣乙女ノア [Tail Wind]

June 15, 2020
Foreword: It's the only fantasy battle game of the month, so it's a natural choice to play.

8665^2 Haruruko no Jijou 8665^2 ハルルコのジジョウ [Rune]

June 11, 2020
Foreword: There have been a lot of H parodies of Haruhi Suzumia, but this one seems to be a mild absurdist parody developing on the themes of the anime. Or do I expect too much from a game by Rune?

TV no Kieta Hi テレビの消えた日 [Petit KeroQ]

June 07, 2020
Foreword: What is Petit KeroQ? Why creating a new brand was needed for this game? Those are the questions I seek answers for.

Bullet Butlers [Propeller]

June 03, 2020
Foreword: There are so many superb English reviews (1 2 3 4 5 6) that it's already evident how great this game is. I'll only try to consider if flaws are big enough to prevent from playing.

Reconquista レコンキスタ [Cotton Soft]

May 30, 2020
Foreword: Cotton Soft debut work Natsumegu did not snatch stars from the sky, but Reconquista seems to have a totally different, serious approach and thus arouses interest.

Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate - 恋する乙女と守護の楯 The Code Name is Shield 9 [AXL]

May 26, 2020
Foreword: It seems to be one of most popular games of AXL with multiple console releases and even almost full translation, such game just can't be missed.

ExE エグゼ [Yuzusoft]

May 21, 2020
Foreword: I'm not sure scenario author of Braban can provide a worthy chunige, but I'm ready to be surprised.

Draculius ドラクリウス [Meromero Cute]

May 16, 2020
Foreword: Vampire stories fail to impress way too often. Tsukihime, Hellsing and Masquerade are the only positive examples I can remember. I would not mind trust reinstalled with some new title.

Zwei Worter [Clock Up team Dyo]

May 12, 2020
Foreword: Clock Up team Dyo creates pretty conventional SF games unlike its older brother, so  Zwei Worter is a good time to get acquainted with it to get ready for Rune Lord.

Shirogane no Soleil -Successor of Wyrd- Unmei no Keishousha 白銀のソレイユ-Successor of Wyrd- <運命の継承者> [SkyFish]

May 07, 2020
Foreword: After these two great reviews (1 2) I could not miss the birth of this multiverse.

Utsurigi Nanakoi Tenkiame うつりぎ七恋天気あめ [Caramel Box]

April 29, 2020
Foreword: Caramel Box is loved by me for rich in detail worlds, so I'm approaching Utsurigi Nanakoi Tenkiame with high degree of skepticism as this is just a story of seven school wonders written by four different writers. But Caramel Box is full of surprises. Can it redeem even this setting?

Moshimo Ashita ga Hare Naraba もしも明日が晴れならば [Palette]

April 24, 2020
Foreword: I see girls crying as disgusting, so I'm ill-suited for reviewing nakige - checking out different reviews might be a better idea (1 2 3 4 5 6). However, Dear My Friend by the same scenario writer and artist left a lasting impression on me, so I don't mind checking their new work that even contains fantasy elements. There are several heroines who don't cry all the time, anyway.

Itsuka, Todoku, Ano Sora ni. いつか、届く、あの空に。 [Lump of Sugar]

April 21, 2020
Foreword: All the previous complex meta-textual intellectual novels got the highest score from me. Itsuka, Todoku, Ano Sora ni is exactly this kind of novel. So... is it 10/10 for me as well?

Gekkou no Carnevale 月光のカルネヴァーレ [Nitroplus]

April 15, 2020
Foreword: Year 2006 had like only three chunige, so I'm starved for any action by now. But there are great reviews out there (1 2 3 4), so I can give just personal impression and be done with it.

Kimi no Koe ga Kikoeru キミの声がきこえる [AXL]

April 08, 2020
Foreword: Unlike Hidamari this AXL work has no superficial elements, so I'm starting it with heavy heart. Can AXL pull it out with a SOL story?

Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no 遥かに仰ぎ、麗しの [Pulltop]

April 04, 2020
Foreword: Every time I start a slice of life charage I really want to like it. But too many companies follow the same trends and present the same product. For praising reviews please refer elsewhere 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic [Caramel Box]

March 31, 2020
Foreword: Choosing a chunige from Caramel Box can't be wrong.

PP -Pianissimo- Ayatsuri Ningyou no Rinbu PP -ピアニッシモ- 操リ人形ノ輪舞 [Innocent Grey]

March 27, 2020
Foreword: I planned to skip Pianissimo since I don't like concept of both Cartagra and Pianissimo. But game does not have real English reviews and is really beautiful. After New Generation I need such kind of injection.

Ayakashi H [Apricot]

March 25, 2020
Foreword: It's the second fandisc that I'm taking up for a review after Nijuubako. Both have a real story involved, and I wanted to check how far story dimension goes and where it stops for Ayakashi H.
 
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