This game has always intrigued me. I've heard about it's influence on the visual novel genre a lot, so curiosity got the best of me and I sat down, got an emulator, and checked out what made this thing so influential. At an outsider's glance, it seems like this sex fueled journey with no real point to anything, but after having played it I realize that to be wrong. While there is sex stuff (it's what holds this back from being a full 5 stars, same with the forced use of guide to play this), it is mainly a story about time travel, parallel worlds, and what it means to fight for someone. I was hooked soon after I began, and as the mystery got deeper and deeper, and more answers were being given, I found myself eagerly anticipating every playthrough of this game. I went into this as blind as possible and I'm so happy I did. The emotions I've felt with this game are unrivaled and I have not been this hooked on a game in a long, long time. This is for me a must play of the visual novel genre, and something that I don't think I will ever forget. Thank you Yu-No, for being such a stellar game...

just good enough to scratch the adventuring itch, if that's what you're after. very much a one-dev project with a variety of jank in its movement and controls. i honestly appreciate the imperfections; they add an extra layer to the experience and there's a lot of heart and raw effort in here to make up for the quirks. i enjoyed learning the map and finding the hidden nooks and crannies. the combat gets trivialized by the introduction of a spammable aoe that doubles as a universal block, but it's strangely satisfying to cheese all the encounters this way. the platforming is less fun; there are some frustrating segments to navigate, but they're not long and death is mostly a suggestion anyways.

I had an itch for a blue sky RPG, and after replaying the first half of the Ys III remake and Ys VI, I went to start Legend of Mana again, only to find this on sale, so I took a chance. And it's a 100% totally just okay Zelda love letter that wants to be Link to the Past but plays more like the first Legend of Zelda.

It's hard to be mad at it because I felt the love in this, and seeing the very short credits appreciated how much work just a few people did.

That said, it can be incredibly frustrating and a little polish would help. For instance, it's really easy to fall in the water on accident, the "interact" button is also the "roll" button, so I frequently rolled when trying to talk to someone, and boss fights are uninspired. The game also ends with a whimper.

It is gorgeous, with beautiful sprite work and a lovely score, the dungeon design is solid, and the writing is clever and fun. There are lots of areas to explore and lots of side quests that are actually fun to complete. I'd guess I finished the game with ~90% of it complete (I had 15 hearts, I think, had completed 30 side quests, with one left incomplete, and had two gaps in my inventory screen), so clearly it was charming enough that I wanted to keep going.

soy supercrítica con la cultura jirai/menhera tanto en la vida real como en sus representaciones porque creo que es muy fácil glamorizarla de forma acrítica de una forma que romantice la autolesión y la drogadicción y demás problemas mentales o dejarse llevar por comportamientos dañinos para una misma y los demás amparada en el arquetipo de jirai onna, pero no siento que NGO haga eso; es más, creo que representa todo lo que es esta cultura de una forma muy acertada, al más mínimo detalle (los diseños de Ame y KAngel, su cuarto, la estética de la interfaz, sus acciones...). es cierto que puede ser duro al ser gráfico a veces y que tiene montones de TW, pero si buscas representar una realidad hay que representar esa realidad con todo lo que conlleva. aparte, con estos temas siempre es muy difícil juzgarlos desde el ojo occidental, sin tener en cuenta el tabú y por ello el problema que supone para la juventud japonesa todo el tema de la salud mental y la depresión en Japón.
APARTE, la localización es literalmente buenísima, cuidada al detalle, supernatural, apropiada para el contexto, literalmente si Ame fuera española escribiría tal y como ella, Y CON REFERENCIAS A TWITCH ESPAÑA SUPER BIEN TRASLADADAS...... de verdad es que merece un premio a la mejor localización.
por lo demás, quiero hacerme todos los endings poco a poco