Virgo Versus the Zodiac was a game I played a bit over 2 years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with it. In part, it was definitely due to me discovering the game all on my own. Having that sense of discovery, finding the needle in the haystack, it's a rewarding feeling. But even then, the game is good in its own merit, though I do recognize some flaws the game has. Ive been meaning to replay it for quite some time now, and I finally got the motivation to do so. And I'm really glad I did, I was able to garner new insights that I never noticed before, both in the good and the bad. At the end of the day, I still really love this game, though its flaws are quite apparent.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac is hard to describe without comparing it to its inspirations. And that's mainly because for a game as niche as this, it's best to give a general framework of what the game is like, and I think having that framework here would be helpful. In this regard, Virgo Versus the Zodiac is a game inspired by the Mario & Luigi series, which is mostly seen in the game's combat.
While I compared Virgo Versus the Zodiac's combat to the Mario & Luigi games, it doesn't copy the game's combat system. I would say if anything, the game takes the ideas of the Mario & Luigi battle system, and takes its own direction with it. Much like Mario & Luigi, combat is done in Turn-Based Battles, and you can do action commands in order to improve your attacks, or defend from enemy attacks. Each character as well responds to a specific button, Virgo herself uses the A button, and the additional party members you obtain use B and X. However, where Virgo Versus the Zodiac changes things is how the game deals with countering enemies. In particular, one action you can do is to defend, which increases your Purity meter. This Purity meter acts a a shield, protecting your health from enemy attacks until its depleted. If an enemy attacks a character whose Purity meter isn't empty, and that character successfully defends the attack, the character is able to do a Counter Attack, which is determined by the equipment you choose. This means that it's possible for your characters to have 2, maybe even more actions per round of combat depending on the Purity and who the enemies attack. But another bit of strategy to keep in mind is that the reverse is also true, where enemies are able to counter your attacks if their Purity meter isn't empty either. And this all culminates into a really fun, engaging, but also at times challenging gameplay loop, and I really love it.
I mentioned it prior, but equipment is a major aspect of Virgo Versus the Zodiac's combat as well. In the game, you have 8 equipment slots per character, 4 for main attacks, and 4 for counters. But each of the individual slots can only fit specific types of equipment, and each equipment grants you a specific attack per battle. Some attacks will only target enemies in the front row, some can target any enemy regardless of their position, some hit every enemy, and some are shield to defend yourself with, granting you Purity. There is much more to equipment as well, each increase and decrease certain stats, have additional bonuses, differ in recharge rate, can inflict foes with status effects, and vary in what kind of Action Command you need to do to get the best result. There's so much equipment to find in Virgo Versus the Zodiac, which allows for a high level of customization, which can make each run somewhat unique.
I apologize for comparing the game to the Mario and Luigi series here, but I think it important for this. In the Mario and Luigi games, each enemy has a "tell". Something in their animation in order to know how to react to them, and to counter their attacks. Virgo Versus the Zodiac also has a "tell" for every enemy, but instead of it being for what attack they're using and who its targeting, the "tell" is for what type of attack it is weak to. Particularly, Virgo Versus the Zodiac has a Rock-Paper-Scissors type system for its enemies, and you're able to tell what weakness an enemy has based on what color it is. Red enemies are weak to Green attacks, Green enemies are weak to Purple attacks, and Purple enemies are weak to Red attacks. I can definitely recognize that since I've played and beat this game 9 times now, I have this system ingrained in my head, but I imagine for first time played, it would be hard to memorize it, especially since the names of the types don't imply what their weaknesses are. Where this can be difficult too is that some enemies lean more towards Yellow, and some lean more towards Blue, so it's hard to really tell what their weakness is meant to be.
Though not a part of the combat system, something integral to the game that I heavily suggest investing time into is the game's crafting system. During the intermissions between each main chapter, and sometimes during the main chapters themselves, you're able to access the crafting system. Through the crafting system, you're able to either create new equipment, or upgrading your preexisting equipment. And believe me, upgrade your equipment. While you can find some already upgraded equipment throughout the game, it would be best to upgrade your equipment you're already using. Boss fights can turn from extremely deadly to a lot more manageable just by upgrading your equipment. I can't imagine doing it without upgrading your equipment at all.
At the start of most chapters, you're offered to play a small optional minigame. These are all bullet hells with 2 stages and then a boss, and as you would probably expect, each chapter increases the difficulty of these minigames. The Bullet Hell minigames in Virgo Versus the Zodiac aren't anything too complex. You have 3 normal attacks you can switch from, and 2 special attacks you can do if you have Purity built up (In this mode, Purity is a Special Meter). While I don't find myself to be too skilled at Bullet Hells, I really appreciate these minigames as short little breaks from the main game. And aside from that, you do get some nice rewards that help you upgrade equipment easier.
I don't really want to talk about Virgo Versus the Zodiac's story in much detail. That is mainly because a game as niche as this, I think it best for people to experience the story themselves, with as little knowledge as possible. That in mind though, i can definitely say the story may not be for everyone, though it is for me. It's very ambitious and I really commend the game for trying to have an ambitious story for what the game is. I don't think that it succeeds all the way, but for what the game is, the story is pretty good! The characters as well are charming in their own right, and really silly (I say that in a positive manner). I like how the game features "Zodiac Memories" as a way to see character interactions between character who would otherwise not interact outside of the main story.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac has 3 major endings, and how the endings play out is dependent on actions that you do during the first half of the game. I won't talk about what happens during the endings, but I think it's important to keep it in mind as I bring up my next point. Aside from those endings and one part in Chapter 5, the actual story of the game barely changes. And I think that in part is probably my biggest issue with Virgo Versus the Zodiac. Until the ending of the game, it feels like the choices barely mattered, and even then, going for all of the endings is really repetitive. Chapter 5 is not only one of the longest chapters, but also having to do it all 3 times with very little difference is a bit annoying to me. There's definitely an argument to make that I didn't need to go for all 3 endings, however a single play-through of the game took me about 7 hours, so I thought it reasonable that I should try for every ending. And hey, I've beaten this game 9 times now.
What was somewhat new for me was the recent addition of the playable Zodiac Memories, which was added about a month ago. I say somewhat new because I had actually played these before they came out, I helped QA test it! Yet again, it's really nice to see characters interact who, in the main story, would be unable to otherwise. I like how each of the playable Zodiac Memories have unique aspects to them, though I swear I really hated part of Libra's Zodiac Memory in particular. Then again, I'm not good at Chess. And I really appreciate how it shows areas that while we knew exist, were unable to visit during the main story of the game. Most Playable Zodiac Memories were probably 10-ish minutes in length, but they're quite nice for what they are. I do kinda wish they were a tad bit longer though.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac is still a game I absolutely love. It's not a game for everyone, and I can definitely see why someone would not like this game. Though it has some noticeable flaws, I still ended my time loving the game. I haven't even mentioned the amazing soundtrack, or the great sprite art the game features either. I can't help but suggest Virgo Versus the Zodiac to anyone who is reading this. At base price, the game's only 20 bucks which is a pretty good deal, and like. I need people to talk to about this game, no one I know has played it yet.

Super charming game that does a lot of things right for me.
The timed combat is something i had not played yet and i had lots of fun testing my reflexes, the most fun i had with it was at the start of the game when virgo was alone and if you made mistakes you were basically dead. After some hours, you know, the game got too easy for my liking, you know? Having a party really dumbed down a lot the difficulty of this game, making combat way less fun. Specially after you mastered crafting, which is something i didnt have much fun, while it was cool to have a lot of weapons with advantages and disadvantages, there was a point in the game virgo was so strong that it didnt matter much what you pick actually. Please note i played this game on normal which the game said it was the correct one and what it said it was balanced for.
Besides that, all the game atmosphere was cute, i liked all character designs mostly and while i think the music was a bit repetitive it was still fun in the end.
Last but not least, this game is super gay, so grab it if you want to see gay zodiacs dating.