gooba
This game took an interesting premise of 'what if detectives had unique powers that helped them solve mysteries' and then did nothing interesting with any of the investigations/mysteries. And somehow the final showdown had NOTHING to do with deductive reasoning or logic- it was just 'mash buttons and be bored'.
The game actually started out somewhat strong but it quickly devolved into a story with many characters that are as deep as a puddle and no reason to care about who the culprit would/could be except for one. Also too much Shinigami bikini shenanigans- why a major part of the final deductions is partly to see hot girl in bikini is beyond me.
The game actually started out somewhat strong but it quickly devolved into a story with many characters that are as deep as a puddle and no reason to care about who the culprit would/could be except for one. Also too much Shinigami bikini shenanigans- why a major part of the final deductions is partly to see hot girl in bikini is beyond me.
A step in the right direction from CS4, but it's hard not to compare this to Sky The Third- a vastly better game. I liked the three different routes and the freedom that came with it, but I'm so burnt out on any of the Erebonia characters. This game did Rean more justice than the entirety of CS.
This game was somewhat bearable at times, and extraordinarily contrived and awful at all others. Every single character except for Aiba was absolutely annoying and it felt like they were all just MADE relevant to the story instead of actually BEING relevant. Sorry, not my thing.
Childhood nostalgia makes me give this game a 5 but this is the best Pokemon game series wide. This game had 12 year old me GRIPPED. Wish Pokemon would write stories like this again and make PMD games.
I get that Ryukishi wrote this to comment all about the meta of the mystery genre as a whole but this story gets far too lost in the meta that it loses track of the true heart and soul of the story. I love stories that make you analyze and question what it's actually trying to tell you but Umineko takes a bit too much analysis for my taste.
This game is an enigma to me- the story in my opinion is mishandled by Ryukishi in a lot of ways- but on the other hand, where would this story even be without him? I love the setup, the whodunnit aspect, the intrigue and helplessness, but at the same time, Ryukishi explains too much and too little about the characters. This VN wasn't lifechanging to me but I can see and appreciate how it is to some. It's worth reading.
5 stars for the game up until the last act, but i'm keeping the 5 stars purely because this game means so much to me personally. It came out when I was 19, directionless and unhappy in college, and I related so much to Mae. I love small town stories with well-developed characters. This game should have kept its more down-to-earth tone- it gets a little crazy towards the end, but the characters and atmosphere more than make up for it.
2015
This VN sounds good on paper- Werewolf the game- but oh good god, after reading this I never want to play Werewolf again. Too much of the script is pointless deliberation over a game that isn't even that deep. My brain gave up halfway through and I just started skipping through the plot as fast as I could. A great concept but the writing and localization was not strong enough to pull it off.
I liked this game way more than I thought I would. Gameplay wise, as far as battles go, not my favorite, especially the boss battle formats. But this story has a lot of heart and put Paper Mario back on track for me writing wise. It's no TTYD but it's a huge step in the right direction. Just wish every single character wasn't a Toad...
An ambitious story and one I never thought I would like from the outset. How the game is framed is genius- everyone's playthrough is slightly different with the player being given the choice to play through different character's routes in different orders. How the story is unraveled is unique to everyone and oh boy, the story is where this game excels. Some characters are hit or miss (looking at you Megumi...) but their individual roles in the story are gripping.
In my opinion, the best Ace Attorney game- which is criminal since my beloved Phoenix isn't even in it. Sure, the beginning is slow, but the sheer amount of natural twists, turns and revelations that crop up in this game make up for it. A prime example of how a good tight story can be made in this series with only 10 cases in 2 games and how continuity in the AA series is what really makes it great. If AA7 ever comes out, I hope it takes aspects of Chronicles' format, but who knows. Maybe giving Apollo a fourth backstory will be too appealing to resist.
Expanding the playable cast honestly hurt the series more than anything, along with the romantic bonding event feature, which is more egregious and pointless than when introduced in Crossbell. Trails excels with character to character interaction, with or without the main character's involvement, but to dumb it down to "everything revolves around Rean and only Rean" cheapens the writing quality by a lot. The locations are not as diverse- don't know how much of that was influenced by the change to full 3D- and it's funny in hindsight how little the original Class VII matters in the grand scheme of the arc. By the end of 4, they are still all empty puppets.
This review contains spoilers
Honestly a slog to get through for most of it. The series can be pretty formulaic at its worst but this game felt like it was the worst of it. Also the ending was absurdly funny to me- a very fast resolution, one of the biggest built up villains in the game was concluded in what felt like literally three sentences.
A game that felt like it had zero stakes and zero consequences. It somehow stripped already empty characters into even emptier shells- in a game where I'm supposed to care about characters, I cared about less than half of the playable cast. When I care more about ANTON, an NPC of all things, more than half of the playable cast, that's a problem to me. I'm also not a fan of the harem kind of style of gameplay- it really just makes Rean feel like a puppet and no other girl is allowed to have a connection with anyone.
Still love the series but dang, this game made me think for the first time- 'what else can I be playing with my time?'. The way I feel about this game, I wish I could give it a one but I at least finished it and enjoyed some aspects of it. Here's hoping what comes after is not a huge disappointment.
A game that felt like it had zero stakes and zero consequences. It somehow stripped already empty characters into even emptier shells- in a game where I'm supposed to care about characters, I cared about less than half of the playable cast. When I care more about ANTON, an NPC of all things, more than half of the playable cast, that's a problem to me. I'm also not a fan of the harem kind of style of gameplay- it really just makes Rean feel like a puppet and no other girl is allowed to have a connection with anyone.
Still love the series but dang, this game made me think for the first time- 'what else can I be playing with my time?'. The way I feel about this game, I wish I could give it a one but I at least finished it and enjoyed some aspects of it. Here's hoping what comes after is not a huge disappointment.
If I could erase my memories of this game just to replay it, I would. This is peak fictional media and nothing- no book/videogame/movie-tv show can compare to how this VN made me feel. A 10/10 from start to finish.
It isn't perfect- there are certain aspects of the story that in my opinion could have been altered (I'm looking at a certain character's age....) but the emotions this VN made me feel surpass the gripes. I never cry or feel emotionally affected with media but this story grips my heart in a tragic, melancholy but above it all, hopeful way, that I always shed a tear at the ending.
Please, if you at all love to read and enjoy gothic themes, a tight but expansive plot, and love stories with rereadability, play this VN. This story truly changed my life and outlook.
It isn't perfect- there are certain aspects of the story that in my opinion could have been altered (I'm looking at a certain character's age....) but the emotions this VN made me feel surpass the gripes. I never cry or feel emotionally affected with media but this story grips my heart in a tragic, melancholy but above it all, hopeful way, that I always shed a tear at the ending.
Please, if you at all love to read and enjoy gothic themes, a tight but expansive plot, and love stories with rereadability, play this VN. This story truly changed my life and outlook.