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I really dislike visual novels. Their basic mechanics and cliches aren't my thing at all, and the ones I have played all display awful pacing that bore me to death. However, Class of '09 is one of the rare visual novels where I don't just play it to the end, but actually try to find all the endings.

Yeah, its rough around the edges, the garbage Renpy models and backgrounds hurt to look at as someone who places a large focus on a game's presentation. The thing is the writing and voice acting is at peak form, so I can't help but tell my brain to shut up every time my mind starts to dwell on the game's look. I can go from hysterically laughing towards the insane satire to feeling genuinely a little moved by some of social and political commentary the game provides. I'm not saying that the game is necessarily deep or complex, but when the game decides to be emotional those rare moments are written with enough genuineness that they don't feel forced or manipulative. The game is also not long at all with me taking only about half an hour to get my first ending, and three hours to get all of them, so if you end up hating the game at least you won't have to spend that much time with it.