Review of the Noritsune Tragic ending:

This game was a heartbreaker for me, but not in the way the writers intended. I immediately connected with this game, I love the presentation and Buddhism motifs and political intrigue of the common route. I was happy to go down the road with my hotheaded rival Noritsune, but I think the story got away from them. It's at once very basic, but also possibly casts too wide of a character development. I think his motivations swung to extremes in a way they didn't have to. It's all played up for drama every chapter but the route as a whole struggles.

I love the MC because she's very proactive in her role and her inner conflict doesn't manifest itself in her being weak, but instead there's strength behind her compassion. But she makes some pretty big leaps of logic to defend her actions. I think she never really wrestles with the fact that she did betray a ton of people and is responsible for a lot of senseless killing herself! It's very much like Corrin from Fire Emblem's unintentional cognitive dissonance... trying to make a pacifist character who willingly goes into violent situations, commits pointless killings, and then justifies it with her ethics just doesn't work.

As the twists went on and got a little more contrived, I had faith that the writers would find some way to write themselves out of it, but instead there is the 'Tragic Ending' which ... is logical and realistic I suppose, but it's not very satisfying. It really just points out how the route was doomed from the beginning despite many reasonable opportunities for it not to be. Ultimately even though there was love there, the characters are the ones who held themselves back. The wrinkle that they didn't realize they loved each other until the end helps, but even after that discovery they continue to act the same way. I'm not just saying this because I wanted a good ending, but because it sort of trivializes the entire route to an extent.