I've never seen so many unlocks of such variety in a game. It's a shame that so few developers take the diegetic approach to unlocking basic HUD elements like enemy healthbars and combo meters. Understandable from a practical perspective, but a shame.
As for the rest of this game... and it is a game not a VN... I went in thinking it would be like 90% reading given the 70-90 hour runtime, but oh no... it's like a clean 50/50 split, if not weighted towards gameplay depending on difficulty....
This game is a roller coaster. Except not the kind with any slow sections, but the kind that oscillates between a clean andrenaline rush and whipashing corkscrew nonsense. I can't ever remember being bored during the entire journey, but boy did it get me with shock value at times.
As a sci-fi I actually really enjoyed this narrative. It was a blast from the past of turn-of-the-millenia and early internet, both in that era's hopes and fears. There are concepts of technology, society, and existential quandries used here that I've seen very rarely in the last 20 years (not that I'm some super well read individual) and it uses them in interesting ways, even feeling downright novel at times. It tapered off a bit near the end for me, but I wager at the time the ending would have felt more fresh. Unfortunately some of the final additions are the concepts most overused today.
As a drama this story is nuts. And quite explicit. Like damn. I've never felt so emotionally detached from a group of characters while simultaneously genuinely enjoying and caring about them. It's like the feeling after you've come to terms with something awful happening to someone you care about—or them doing something awful in some cases. You just gotta accept reality, move on, and not become emotionally entrenched.
It does even justify most of those feelings thematically, as well. I'd say the central one here is "crushing nostalgia" as the characters find themselves so far removed from their days of innocence that even just thinking about the good days is a source of pain, even as they find few other motivations in life outside of vague desires to reclaim what once was. It's pretty interesting, and surprisingly not as diluted of an experience as something this long tends to be.
That said—and as I seem to say frequently—it's definitely a game from the early 00's VN scene.
Now, that aside, the biggest surprise here is the combat—the only gameplay but very prominent in its role. It's odd, but it's also oddly good. It's an isometric 2D brawler with 3D movement that plays like a classic arcade mecha game, only perhaps a bit more like an anime fighter than some of its peers.
Given the graphical limitations, you won't be speccing out your mech with specific parts, but you do get full customization of your attack mappings in a system reminiscent of the Tales of series. Each of the four attack buttons can have four attacks mapped to it, each triggering contextually based on range, movement, and a no-repeats limit on moves in one combo string.
The attacks available are varied and their roles in combat seem well defined. The mechanics of combat are nuanced and you can learn to take advantage of them as you work out your tactics to get really devastating effects. There are options you can spam defensively as well early on, but with learning you can take minutes long fights down to 10-15 seconds.
Or, if you're not into that kind of effort in your gaming, you can turn on Very Easy mode and blow everything up with rockets. Up to you. As far as I can tell there's only one or two unlockables that require a higher difficulty and I'm pretty sure they just unlock more combat stuff.
Enemy variety is also kind of absurd for how long the game is. Though I guess that can in part be attributed to it being two games combined into one at this point, but even then, there are probably around 40-60 unique enemies with animated sprites and attack patterns, then a good number of varients on top of that. They're rather creatively designed too, to the point of them sometimes being downright aggravating in that way things can be when creative types are doing what they feel like.
I never found one that didn't have some weakness you could exploit, though. I did get kind of sick of playing on hard by hour 50, though. It's a bit sadistic at times (and I got a new job, so my days of no-lifing games are on hold again).
This is all to say that if you're looking for some classic mech action gameplay and/or a sci-fi that is everything Virtues Last Reward wished it was, then this might be worth checking out.
Just be warned that wholesome feelings are few and far between in this tale.
As for the rest of this game... and it is a game not a VN... I went in thinking it would be like 90% reading given the 70-90 hour runtime, but oh no... it's like a clean 50/50 split, if not weighted towards gameplay depending on difficulty....
This game is a roller coaster. Except not the kind with any slow sections, but the kind that oscillates between a clean andrenaline rush and whipashing corkscrew nonsense. I can't ever remember being bored during the entire journey, but boy did it get me with shock value at times.
As a sci-fi I actually really enjoyed this narrative. It was a blast from the past of turn-of-the-millenia and early internet, both in that era's hopes and fears. There are concepts of technology, society, and existential quandries used here that I've seen very rarely in the last 20 years (not that I'm some super well read individual) and it uses them in interesting ways, even feeling downright novel at times. It tapered off a bit near the end for me, but I wager at the time the ending would have felt more fresh. Unfortunately some of the final additions are the concepts most overused today.
As a drama this story is nuts. And quite explicit. Like damn. I've never felt so emotionally detached from a group of characters while simultaneously genuinely enjoying and caring about them. It's like the feeling after you've come to terms with something awful happening to someone you care about—or them doing something awful in some cases. You just gotta accept reality, move on, and not become emotionally entrenched.
It does even justify most of those feelings thematically, as well. I'd say the central one here is "crushing nostalgia" as the characters find themselves so far removed from their days of innocence that even just thinking about the good days is a source of pain, even as they find few other motivations in life outside of vague desires to reclaim what once was. It's pretty interesting, and surprisingly not as diluted of an experience as something this long tends to be.
That said—and as I seem to say frequently—it's definitely a game from the early 00's VN scene.
Now, that aside, the biggest surprise here is the combat—the only gameplay but very prominent in its role. It's odd, but it's also oddly good. It's an isometric 2D brawler with 3D movement that plays like a classic arcade mecha game, only perhaps a bit more like an anime fighter than some of its peers.
Given the graphical limitations, you won't be speccing out your mech with specific parts, but you do get full customization of your attack mappings in a system reminiscent of the Tales of series. Each of the four attack buttons can have four attacks mapped to it, each triggering contextually based on range, movement, and a no-repeats limit on moves in one combo string.
The attacks available are varied and their roles in combat seem well defined. The mechanics of combat are nuanced and you can learn to take advantage of them as you work out your tactics to get really devastating effects. There are options you can spam defensively as well early on, but with learning you can take minutes long fights down to 10-15 seconds.
Or, if you're not into that kind of effort in your gaming, you can turn on Very Easy mode and blow everything up with rockets. Up to you. As far as I can tell there's only one or two unlockables that require a higher difficulty and I'm pretty sure they just unlock more combat stuff.
Enemy variety is also kind of absurd for how long the game is. Though I guess that can in part be attributed to it being two games combined into one at this point, but even then, there are probably around 40-60 unique enemies with animated sprites and attack patterns, then a good number of varients on top of that. They're rather creatively designed too, to the point of them sometimes being downright aggravating in that way things can be when creative types are doing what they feel like.
I never found one that didn't have some weakness you could exploit, though. I did get kind of sick of playing on hard by hour 50, though. It's a bit sadistic at times (and I got a new job, so my days of no-lifing games are on hold again).
This is all to say that if you're looking for some classic mech action gameplay and/or a sci-fi that is everything Virtues Last Reward wished it was, then this might be worth checking out.
Just be warned that wholesome feelings are few and far between in this tale.
Disgust show
My opinion is that it's good, but not great.
Generally the the VN got better is it went on route-wise, with the exception of Aki (derivative and weird incest stuff) and Reminiscence (not bad but forced you to go through stuff you've seen already).
Setting was pretty cool. Music was fine with a few stand out songs. Gameplay was cool, grinding abilities to get better ones was annoying but when you get your ideal build and just grinding out orbs for plug-ins and stuff makes things a lot more fun. Characters were generally likable and interesting but none I'd personally put on a top favorites list.
Biggest issue was definitely the repetitive nature of the storytelling. Yes it ultimately made sense when you got to Sora's route, but given the length of both Dives, I think they either should've made the routes stand out more by giving more unique scenes OR just cut down the length by like 1/3 or even 1/4 so you don't have to put so many hours in similar-ish events.
That said, for a VN its length (took me 150+ hours on Steam, though it's mixed with H scenes and Survival Mode and listening to music)... it's paced decently well. Gameplay taking over action scenes helped since I'm not usually a fan of how action is written in VNs. It does tends to keep you on your toes and even makes the slice of life/slower scenes fun.
Routes: 1) 6 - I actually enjoyed the first half of recruiting everyone a lot. Second half was cool if maybe relying on some weird writing to solve everything.
2) 5 - Just generally a feel good version of Kou branch. Good stuff happening all around
3) 3 - It being the first route to have Chinatsu develop from not being a cunt was nice, and having the final battle be the forgotten flashback with current mechs was nice.
4) Reminiscence [new stuff only] - The twist of the (half?) forced Simulacra romance was weird but interesting. Reveals in Sora route made this not as bad. Was also nice to see some filling in of the blanks.
5) 2 - Naoki coming in to save Kou before his Heel reveal was one of my fav Dive 1 moments. Otherwise finding out suffering Nanoha's life was hurt. Good route but everything else above was just that much better.
6) 1 - Had the unfortunate issue of being plagued by the most flashbacks. Ultimately didn't matter as much since I actually liked the flashbacks but it just goes back to my comment of how the repetitiveness/pacing could have easily better by either moving Reminiscence earlier, or just limiting flashback length while still keeping this the decent into route it was.
7) 4 - Had dumb romance and a lot of the story was just copied off Chinatsu route. Saved a bit by Simulcara and Tranquilizer fight stuff.
Characters:
1/2) Not sure if I like Nanoha or Sora more. Nanoha is generally more my type the deredere childhood friend but with a dose of suffering to make me care for her more. Did cry a bit too much at times though. Sora is by far the most interesting character in the VN. Not my type personality-wise generally but likable even in the flashback stuff. Woulda been cool to see more Dive Sora stuff.
3) Makoto - Was boring as shit in flashbacks. Became way more interesting once she got unmasked.
4) Chinatsu - Very fun in flashbacks. Was a bit of a cunt in present but developed enough and was pretty interesting regardless.
5) Rain - Was pretty consistent, maybe too consistent? Had a pretty stable personality that was fine but didn't go far beyond that besides a few cool moments. Didn't show up enough in flashbacks.
6) Aki - Likable enough just had the dumb romance dragging her down. Did rely a bit too much on her "super smart but lazy" stereotype.
Other notes:
Being fully voiced made the experience much better
Kou was an ok enough protagonist. Got the job done
Masa was a decent bro character. Having a wife and not being a total loser for once helped
Naoki coulda been one of my fav characters pre-Heel reveal. I like them mentor characters. Sad his character just became all about the corruption but oh well.
* Villains were a little too hammy to be taken seriously sometimes. Gilbert and Gregory were the biggest offenders. Anan's appearance and voice. Even Naoki went a bit far sometimes. 19 in general was just fucking weird all around.
Definitely a solid VN series as long as you don't mind it's length, gameplay, and want a sci-fi multi-route mystery taken to its meta limits.
Generally the the VN got better is it went on route-wise, with the exception of Aki (derivative and weird incest stuff) and Reminiscence (not bad but forced you to go through stuff you've seen already).
Setting was pretty cool. Music was fine with a few stand out songs. Gameplay was cool, grinding abilities to get better ones was annoying but when you get your ideal build and just grinding out orbs for plug-ins and stuff makes things a lot more fun. Characters were generally likable and interesting but none I'd personally put on a top favorites list.
Biggest issue was definitely the repetitive nature of the storytelling. Yes it ultimately made sense when you got to Sora's route, but given the length of both Dives, I think they either should've made the routes stand out more by giving more unique scenes OR just cut down the length by like 1/3 or even 1/4 so you don't have to put so many hours in similar-ish events.
That said, for a VN its length (took me 150+ hours on Steam, though it's mixed with H scenes and Survival Mode and listening to music)... it's paced decently well. Gameplay taking over action scenes helped since I'm not usually a fan of how action is written in VNs. It does tends to keep you on your toes and even makes the slice of life/slower scenes fun.
Routes: 1) 6 - I actually enjoyed the first half of recruiting everyone a lot. Second half was cool if maybe relying on some weird writing to solve everything.
2) 5 - Just generally a feel good version of Kou branch. Good stuff happening all around
3) 3 - It being the first route to have Chinatsu develop from not being a cunt was nice, and having the final battle be the forgotten flashback with current mechs was nice.
4) Reminiscence [new stuff only] - The twist of the (half?) forced Simulacra romance was weird but interesting. Reveals in Sora route made this not as bad. Was also nice to see some filling in of the blanks.
5) 2 - Naoki coming in to save Kou before his Heel reveal was one of my fav Dive 1 moments. Otherwise finding out suffering Nanoha's life was hurt. Good route but everything else above was just that much better.
6) 1 - Had the unfortunate issue of being plagued by the most flashbacks. Ultimately didn't matter as much since I actually liked the flashbacks but it just goes back to my comment of how the repetitiveness/pacing could have easily better by either moving Reminiscence earlier, or just limiting flashback length while still keeping this the decent into route it was.
7) 4 - Had dumb romance and a lot of the story was just copied off Chinatsu route. Saved a bit by Simulcara and Tranquilizer fight stuff.
Characters:
1/2) Not sure if I like Nanoha or Sora more. Nanoha is generally more my type the deredere childhood friend but with a dose of suffering to make me care for her more. Did cry a bit too much at times though. Sora is by far the most interesting character in the VN. Not my type personality-wise generally but likable even in the flashback stuff. Woulda been cool to see more Dive Sora stuff.
3) Makoto - Was boring as shit in flashbacks. Became way more interesting once she got unmasked.
4) Chinatsu - Very fun in flashbacks. Was a bit of a cunt in present but developed enough and was pretty interesting regardless.
5) Rain - Was pretty consistent, maybe too consistent? Had a pretty stable personality that was fine but didn't go far beyond that besides a few cool moments. Didn't show up enough in flashbacks.
6) Aki - Likable enough just had the dumb romance dragging her down. Did rely a bit too much on her "super smart but lazy" stereotype.
Other notes:
Being fully voiced made the experience much better
Kou was an ok enough protagonist. Got the job done
Masa was a decent bro character. Having a wife and not being a total loser for once helped
Naoki coulda been one of my fav characters pre-Heel reveal. I like them mentor characters. Sad his character just became all about the corruption but oh well.
* Villains were a little too hammy to be taken seriously sometimes. Gilbert and Gregory were the biggest offenders. Anan's appearance and voice. Even Naoki went a bit far sometimes. 19 in general was just fucking weird all around.
Definitely a solid VN series as long as you don't mind it's length, gameplay, and want a sci-fi multi-route mystery taken to its meta limits.
insane game
Good game. Aki best girl. It really overstayed its welcome in some aspects.
the only people who like this game do so because they fat balding manlets who relate to a game about "Balder Sky" who rely on quasi marvel-ragnarokian lore to tell a good story.
also, a really, really terrible twin stick shooter. hard recommend, go play Hatred, less underage girls and more targets.
also, a really, really terrible twin stick shooter. hard recommend, go play Hatred, less underage girls and more targets.
Honestly brilliant. Brought this game for funny mecha and romance action and I got one hell of an amazing story, with incredibly likeable characters (and biggest asshole in the history).
I was hooked from the start and I just couldn't stop. 70 hours later and finally done. It was 100% worth my time, I do not regret a moment.
I was hooked from the start and I just couldn't stop. 70 hours later and finally done. It was 100% worth my time, I do not regret a moment.
not really the biggest fan of certain aspects of the VN, but was a decent read felt kinda too long but most of the routes were decent. soundtrack was alright too.
I wouldn’t ever tell anyone I have played this but it’s pretty good.
Baldr Sky had immense potential. It had a cool premise (VR cyberpunk mecha is incredible), setting and themes, immaculate visuals (both character design and the menu, as well as everything else, this is one of the best-looking VNs ever made) and soundtrack, wonderful vocal tracks by KOTOKO, plus awesome gameplay.
It was disappointing on several levels. For one, the VN doesn't recognise some text as already read text, even though it should be skipped, extremely often. What ends up happening is you have a 98% similar scene to one that you've already read, with one different line, so instead of skipping everything except for that new line, BS decides to make you reread and fish out the new line. This is exacerbated in Reminiscence, which makes you read all the flashback SoL sections that you've seen separately before, but this time in a row, in addition to a couple new scenes. I don't know if they did it because the VN came out split into two halves, but it should've had the option to skip everything except for the new content. It is the biggest disrespect of the reader's time that I've seen in the medium, and maybe in stories in general. Those who have read Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative could probably see an analogy for if you'd read bits of Extra during Unlimited and Alternative, only to read all of Extra right before the finale of Alt. Also, the non-true endings are usually decided by getting "humiliation scenes" which depend on you losing final boss fights, and they're just pointless to me.
And after all that suffering, the final route was underwhelming as a finale (especially compared to how many other VNs' final/true routes blow everything else out of the water), despite how hyped up it was ever since you saw Dive 2's opening.
That being said, though, besides the positives I've already mentioned, Rain Kirishima is one of the best anime women I've ever seen, so I can't give it a negative score.
It was disappointing on several levels. For one, the VN doesn't recognise some text as already read text, even though it should be skipped, extremely often. What ends up happening is you have a 98% similar scene to one that you've already read, with one different line, so instead of skipping everything except for that new line, BS decides to make you reread and fish out the new line. This is exacerbated in Reminiscence, which makes you read all the flashback SoL sections that you've seen separately before, but this time in a row, in addition to a couple new scenes. I don't know if they did it because the VN came out split into two halves, but it should've had the option to skip everything except for the new content. It is the biggest disrespect of the reader's time that I've seen in the medium, and maybe in stories in general. Those who have read Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative could probably see an analogy for if you'd read bits of Extra during Unlimited and Alternative, only to read all of Extra right before the finale of Alt. Also, the non-true endings are usually decided by getting "humiliation scenes" which depend on you losing final boss fights, and they're just pointless to me.
And after all that suffering, the final route was underwhelming as a finale (especially compared to how many other VNs' final/true routes blow everything else out of the water), despite how hyped up it was ever since you saw Dive 2's opening.
That being said, though, besides the positives I've already mentioned, Rain Kirishima is one of the best anime women I've ever seen, so I can't give it a negative score.
The more gameplay-focused eroge tend to suffer on the gameplay side, but Baldr Sky is one of the few that actually had a sick loop. Reading the story made me want to fight guys more, and fighting guys made me want to read the story more--both parts are in harmony in a way. I wish I was good at the game tho.
Not to mention, the story on display here is just wonderful. Its fairly hard scifi with a military stint to it, but it never manages to lose the compassion and sentimentality, the human element is always at the center even when characters are talking in paragraphs exclusively comprised of technobabble.
The way it tackles its Big Ideas like AI, the connection of our net personas and our real selves, what it means to be human and all that jazz that has been done so many times before also manages to come off as novel and unique, with perspectives so very rarely really seen in the genre.
Just a wonderful game, really.
Not to mention, the story on display here is just wonderful. Its fairly hard scifi with a military stint to it, but it never manages to lose the compassion and sentimentality, the human element is always at the center even when characters are talking in paragraphs exclusively comprised of technobabble.
The way it tackles its Big Ideas like AI, the connection of our net personas and our real selves, what it means to be human and all that jazz that has been done so many times before also manages to come off as novel and unique, with perspectives so very rarely really seen in the genre.
Just a wonderful game, really.