LongStory Episode 1 Review

A few weeks ago, I tweeted on my efforts to be a bit more decent to people after I realized I had disagreed with a few jokes some family members tossed about during the Winter Olympics. Anyone who’s followed this website for long enough knows that I come from a very traditional Southern background, which means MORE than a healthy dose of that Old-Time religion. While I’m not going to bore everyone with exactly what I do and don’t believe, I hope my previous reviews have shown a decent effort to be fair regardless of my personal ideology.

Now, with that said, I think a blunt JP moment is in order to fit into that whole ‘fair’ thing, otherwise, people will wonder why the review is missing certain references. Longstory by Bloom Digital was created with very specific intentions and its creative team has not been shy about what they want the game to accomplish. In a brief description of a panel they ran at SXSW, the team describes their agenda;

“…By offering a story where queer is the new normal, we’re hoping to convince a generation of gamers that falling in love is fun, it’s liberating, and it can happen outside of the oppressive norms that cause people both children and adults to resort to sexual bullying.”

Now, show of hands; who thinks I care about any of that? No one? You guys know me well.

That isn’t to say that those aren’t legitimate issues. If you agree, I support your right to support any projects that addresses the same issues as LongStory does. However, when I play any game, its agenda isn’t my first concern. My concerns are the concerns I always have: story, presentation and ambition.

So, for those who expected this review to have a discussion on ‘queer-positivity’ in gaming, that’s the last time I mention it in my review. With that said, gather round as we go back into a setting I just love to discuss here on VNs Now: HIGH SCHOOL!

…yes I was being sarcastic…

Roommates Review

Hey everyone! Winter Wolves is back!

2014 is going to be a busy year for the group. Recently they announced C-14 Dating: a romance game set in the exciting world of archeology…it was exciting for Indiana Jones anyway. This will cap four other planned releases for the year. So, it is vital for the group to get off on the right foot and give its fandom something they can have fun with after a rather bland 2013.

So how does Roommates fare? Well, that’s for us to discover! Come with me, will you?

The Reject Demon: Toko Review

So, do I strike anyone who can enjoy a dumb, guilty pleasure for what it is?

…Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Look, I’m not going to go full Snob and say there is no place for that type of entertainment (trust me, there is). It would shock people to find what lurks in the back of my movie collection (yes Michael Bay has a home there). Guilty pleasures are a release valve for the human mind, allowing it to shut down and just enjoy something that appeals to the basics instincts. Without it, we’d be in a world full of neurotic intellectuals; although Christopher Nolan would’ve won an Oscar by now in that world…okay that world of neurotics doesn’t sound too bad after all.

That said, The Reject Demon: Toko is yet another installment in EVN guilty pleasures. But, even with that, it has to fit into the lines it set for itself in order for the reader to fully enjoy the absurdity of it all. So the question isn’t whether or not this game is good by my definition of ‘good’, but rather by its definition of good. What are those definitions? ‘Are the characters fun and entertaining enough to distract from the absurdity of the story?’, ‘Is the threat a viable one?’, ‘Do we want Toko to succeed in her fulfilling her destiny?’, and the most important one, ‘Is the relationship between Toko and Nadia appealing?’

Well, these are interesting questions to answer. So, let’s do our best to answer them together!

Pyrite Heart Review

You’d think I would’ve found a more elegant way to go about this by now.

I’ve tried writing this intro three times now and I have yet to properly get across what I want to say. I don’t consider completely inept but this game just confounds me. I may not be, and may never be, a die-hard anime or manga fan and I am certainly not the target audience for 70% of visual novels, but in the same vein I like to think that we can all agree on some basics that have become the foundation of this very website. That foundation is what separates all fiction across all genres between good and bad; regardless of personal preferences.

Which brings me to Pyrite Heart.

Released within spitting distance of the celebration of the birth of Our Lord and Savior, Pyrite Heart is a title that is slowly infecting the larger EVN community. I’ve personally been flooded not only with requests to play the game, but also nominations for it in the 2013 Best Ofs with only a few days of exposure to its name. But popular response doesn’t answer the question that is the keystone of this site, ‘Is it good?’

Strap on a helmet amigos, because we’re not all making it back from this one.

Nicole Review

As an outsider looking it, I would define Winter Wolves’ 2013 as a resounding ‘Meh’.

If the EVN community had a ‘legacy’ brand, it would most likely be Winter Wolves. They were one of the first into the fray of the public market and won Studio/EVN Circle of the Year in the 2011 Best Ofs on this very site for the consistent quality of their work. Moreso, Loren the Amazon Princess helped lead to the creation of the Best Hybrid EVN category that recognizes those that integrate other gaming elements with visual novels.

With that sort of pedigree, 2013 looked to be very promising. However, while I don’t receive regular financial reports from Celso Riva, critically the chain of sequels we got from the group hasn’t exactly been memorable. While I am still deciding whether or not to review Heileen 3 on this website, I did take on Bionic Heart 2. Now the group is looking forward to 2014 with a new slate of releases being led by the sequel to Loren, but before they do we have one more Winter Wolves project to dig through.

Nicole has a good amount of ambition behind it. An original IP, it looks to marry otome and mystery story-telling. A DLC pack, featuring lesbian romances, was announced before release to be written by none other than Hope Chapman AKA JesuOtaku. So with that said, how is the game itself?

Well, there’s only one way to find out! And for those absolutely dead set on getting this game, there are mild spoilers below so consider yourself warned.

You Asked For It: Starswirl Academy

…My Little Pony…I suppose it was inevitable, really. It really was only a matter of time before the MLP fandom began to encroach on visual novel territory. And to be fair, I don’t necessarily hate the show or the fandom around it. I am not necessarily a feminist (I prefer to call myself an Equalist), but I can recognize the outright aversion mass media has to treating young girls as anything but fodder for the next lifeless teen romance they can pump out. I’ll touch more on the subject whenever I discuss DC Entertainment and Cartoon Network’s continued drive to be crowned King of Douches, but for now just know that while I will never care for the show enough to invest an afternoon’s worth of time to watch, I am glad that young girls are getting the quality of writing and animation I used to get when I was a young boy.This brings me to ‘Bronies’.

Rising Angels: Reborn Review

Earlier this year I reviewed Rising Angels: The Red Rose from IDHAS Studios. It was an average title that was ultimately the sums of its choices. Clearly it was also not the title KomiTsuku, the mind behind IDHAS, wanted to release so he went back to the drawing board to revamp the entire series.

Rising Angels: Reborn is what it says on the tin: a retcon of the RA universe with a new main character and a larger integration of IDHAS’ other stories and ideas. The game also hopes to not only connect with the larger EVN community, but also bring in science fiction fans as much of the plot can be traced back to that genre in particular. As a faction within English Visual Novels, Science Fiction is seeing something of a growth spurt with not only Reborn but also Touhou Mecha and the upcoming Sunrider project to boost its recognition among the throngs of bloody mysteries and otome.

But the ultimate question is still the ultimate question, ‘Is it good?’ Breathe easy Chief. Despite some missteps, it’s good.

Serafina’s Saga Review

So you know all of the rants I gave you guys about the fact that we should get more out of EVNs that just that one EVN? Apparently we have a test case to examine!

Serafina’s Saga is a multimedia project that covers animation, an e-book and, of course, a visual novel. All of this is an off-shoot of another series written by the author, so there is plenty of back-story and history to comb through if you simply want to or if you’re a fan of Jayden Woods. But that isn’t the question is it. ‘Is any of it actually good?’ is the question.

Since I have been clamoring for more when it comes to VNs, it would be hypocritical for me to not review each piece of this particular project. So there will be a review of the animation and the e-book, which both serve as prequels to the game proper. At the end, everything will be linked together and form one long chain of either glory or pain depending on how all of this goes. This particular review will focus just on the events of the visual novel.

I hope you are ready to have fun, because I am! Let’s dive into Serafina’s Saga!

First Impressions: Solstice, Pt. 2

OUR HERO EVERYONE!

Solstice is split between two different main characters: Galen and Yani. Both have their own personal secrets and motives for coming to the North, but of the two Galen could have the bigger personal experiences while Yani has to most to accomplish with the larger world. Er, perhaps I should explain.

Always The Same Blue Sky Review

We need to have a talk about Anvils and why I hate them.

Look, I know for a fact I have a wide spectrum of readers here and that’s exactly what I want. What we believe about politics or religion shouldn’t be a factor in the games we like. The idea of it even being considered to be important in gaming is just ridiculous to me and, ultimately, I strongly feel trying to tie ideologies to gaming will only alienate people rather than bring them together.

So, where do Anvils fit into that?

For the purposes of this website, an Anvil is a visual novel that’s focused on hammering the reader with its ideology and little else. That isn’t to say you can’t have politics in your game: that would be stupid. But if that’s ALL your game is about, then I don’t want to play it and I don’t care what side of the spectrum you’re on. It is the absolute laziest type of fiction to me and I have a very visceral reaction when I see it done.

This is all a very fancy way of saying I’m sorry if I start foaming at the mouth in this review. It isn’t my fault; it’s just what Always the Same Blue Sky did to me. Come on, I’ll explain a bit better within. And if you’re the type that cares, there are spoilers inside!