Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/06/16 in Blog Entries

  1. I'm definitely going to have really, seriously mixed feelings on this VN when it is done. The problems with the common route still apply, but some of the heroine routes make up for the problem. I'm not going to say this is going to be another Tasogare no Sinsemilla... that possibility never even really existed. For better or worse, this VN has serious pacing issues near the beginning (yes, the heroine routes are longer than the common route), and the difference between even the non-true heroine routes is a bit sharp, based on my experience with Yui's, Honoka's, and Koharu's routes. First, Honoka's route is straight-out the best of the non-Misaki routes. I say it is 'the best', but that is mostly because it strikes the best balance between the heroine and the protagonist and their problems. Unlike in the average charage (it is questionable after playing this route whether this can be seriously considered a charage), there are multiple points of drama, and the actual story (non-ichaicha/H) is fairly extended. I was actually impressed by this route in the sense that I haven't encountered one like it in a while, but that just emphasizes how 'patchwork' this VN feels as a whole so far. Second, Koharu's route... for better or worse, this is a lot closer to a charage route than Honoka's, in the sense that the drama is very self-contained, mild, and it is over relatively quickly (in the larger perspective of the route as a whole). Unfortunately, this just points out how much better Honoka's route was, both in detail and in general. This is what I mean by the VN feeling 'patchwork'. There are seriously good points to this experience, but then there will be long stretches of mediocrity or intermittent moments of brilliance with the same. It feels like it was written by three separate writers at times, lol. Third... Yui's route. Yui's route is a lot closer to Honoka's, in that the conflicts involved are more serious/have more serious consequences. Again, this tends to contrast with Koharu's route, which felt bland and drama-less in comparison. So far, the biggest common point between the three paths is that the protagonist is a bit clingy and if the girls didn't already love him, he'd probably be stalking them (seriously, this was my thought as I played). That said, I liked how natural (in terms of the plot) the relationship-formation stage was in all three paths, though the paths themselves tended to feel a bit drawn-out. Now, on to Misaki's path... and the wrap-up.
    2 points
  2. [WARNING] [This entry will have massive amounts of bias in it. If you don't want to hear me gushing about Dracu-riot, I'd suggest you turn around right now. Also spoilerz. You have been warned] Mera Azusa is your average responsible petite girl, whose also a huge closet-pervert. She is the dorm leader and also the only human living in the dorm. Azusa starts out as this reliable senior to Yuuto at the start in her route, but their hierarchy evens out as the route progresses. In the end of the Common route she does get a rather amusing ending to start her route, and it does a play a small part in her route, this being Yuuto's so-called "pedophilia", and as the result Azusa becomes Yuuto's partner, as a senior. Although this builds the groundwork for their relationship, this issue isn't touched any more than the start of her route. Along the starting parts of the route you get some tension from the presence of hunters and some extremely funny moments from Azusa's extreme blushing and over-reactions. Yet still the starting part is pretty much just pure comedy and slight progression not in the relationships but in the story. The threat of the terrorists from the mainland is steadily rising, but kind of blends midst all the SoL. As the route progresses, the two of them start to notice their feelings for each other. The way they notice each other really reminds me of Rio's route, albeit a little toned down. The steadily rising confronting feelings between the Hunters and the vampires is starting to reach boiling point when the Hunters start to arrest vampires without and with IDs. The SoL is really hefty and it drags on before the final event before dating starts. Enter Giordano. Honestly, the final confrontation with Giordano in the school is a really good one. And they show how vampires are valuable as well, as opposed to the Hunters' look on things. At the final moments before Yuuto gets heavily injured, Giordano says some cryptic things and RIOT. The confession in this was actually pretty good, at least better than in the majority of the routes in Dracu-Riot! The start of the dating was really weird and confusing. I got some mixed signals from it. And they jammed so many H-scenes in a short amount of time. The ichaicha was good but not the best by a long shot. Overall, the dating part was sub-par, below average. Following is about the final part of the route. Spoilers. The ending ties some ends, but leaves something to be desired, especially about Ougi's future. Overall, the route isn't bad in moege standards, but definitely was the worst main heroine route in the game. Still, it brought a nice story, so it wasn't bad in my book. And of course, Azusa's as cute as ever.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...