VN Review : Ever17 -the out of infinity-

[NukeExplodes]

Ever 17 was a visual novel I really wanted to play ever since I began my cruise towards the visual novel world with Umineko. It is the second oldest visual novel I've played,the oldest one being Tsukihime. It fascinated me when I read the synopsis,so after finishing Killer Queen,I tackled it as my first game of 2016. I finished it in 10 days and now I am ready to review it.But before I actually delve into the good and the bad of Ever 17,I need to tell you what I expected of this particular game.
- A solid plot
- Good writing
- Music that doesn't bore you to death
- Character development
Now let's cut to the chase.What did I think of Ever 17 -the out of infinity- ?

Art (8/10)
For a visual novel released in the early 2000's,this is impressive.The art had feeling in it,and it had a good style.The only problem I had with the art is how it changes between the sprites and the CG images.The sprites are a bit worse than the CG art,and if it wasn't for the CG art,I would've given the art a 6.5 instead of an 8.

Sound (8/10)
My expectations were fulfilled with the sound part.The music and the voice acting are very good.For the music,it was no Umineko but it was very emotional and it never failed to make the mood (especially for Karma).The voice acting was also very good.I didn't even expect any voice acting  

Story (9/10)
Plot-wise,Ever 17 was pretty good.It never failed to amuse me or make me cry,which is what not many visual novels can do these days.However,there is one thing that Ever 17 wouldn't be a good story without : The Final Route.
When I played the first two routes,for the most time I was bored.I wanted it to finish faster,which is bad.This was filled in with Sara's route,and then Coco's route was a heel-face turn.If there were only three routes : Tsumugi,Sora and You,I would have given the story at most a 4.For the effort,and for Tsugumi.
I will now rate the five routes one by one.
Tsumugi's Route (7/10)
Sora's Route (5/10)
Sara's Route (8/10)
You's Route (6/10)
Coco's Route (10/10)
Anyone who has played this game knows how superior the last route is to the other four.However,it could have been better...I expected a much darker ending.

Characters (8/10)
The characters in this story were very interesting,including the protagonist(s).Tsumugi was my favorite character from the start,and she reminded me of Yumiko from Grisaia.Yeah,she was a slimmer Yumiko with smaller boobs and a lack of scalpel.That 

Spoiler

washing machine scene 

ripped my heart out and threw it in the washing machine in question.
Then there was Sora.Also very interesting.And You...not so much in my opinion.Sara,she was also interesting,and Coco was my favorite loli/imouto in all visual novels of all time. 
And of course,let's not forget the Kid and Takeshi.Not too shabby,gets better tho.

Enjoyment (10/10)
I enjoyed this visual novel,simply put.

Overall - 8/10
 

Why such a 'small' rating? This visual novel must deserve better!
 

Spoiler

The ending disappointed me,even though it was happy.I wanted a darker ending.Everything was just too good to be true.
However,the mysteries were pretty good.

Welp,let's go play Sharin no Kuni next  

Edited January 16, 2016 by NukeExplodes
I accidentally posted it when I didn't even finish writing it

[Dergonu]

8 minutes ago, NukeExplodes said:

Ever 17 was a visual novel I really wanted to play ever since I began my cruise towards the visual novel world with Umineko. It is the second oldest visual novel I've played,the oldest one being Tsukihime. It fascinated me when I read the synopsis,so after finishing Killer Queen,I tackled it as my first game of 2016. I finished it in 10 days and now I am ready to review it.But before I actually delve into the good and the bad of Ever 17,I need to ...

T-Too be continued?

Feel like something is missing from this thread

[Funyarinpa]

I guess the true review is not unlocked yet

[NukeExplodes]

Just now, Dergonu said:

T-Too be continued?

Feel like something is missing from this thread

I'm so sorry.I'm new to this forum and I accidentally pushed enter and this happened  

[Eclipsed]

Excellent review, I'm pretty hyped to read Ever 17 now

 

[Dergonu]

1 minute ago, Eclipsed said:

Excellent review, I'm pretty hyped to read Ever 17 now

Eclipsed being a bully like always

(pls no ban hammer)

2 minutes ago, NukeExplodes said:

I'm so sorry.I'm new to this forum and I accidentally pushed enter and this happened  

Don't worry Just edit the thread and it will be like it never happened.

[NukeExplodes]

1 minute ago, Eclipsed said:

Excellent review, I'm pretty hyped to read Ever 17 now

 

 

 

 

I'm so sorry for the mistake  

[NukeExplodes]

Finished editing it XD

[Funyarinpa]

1 hour ago, NukeExplodes said:

Sora's Route (5/10)
 

Do not talk to me ever again 

[NukeExplodes]

5 minutes ago, Funyarinpa said:

Do not talk to me ever again 

I think the experience was ruined for me since I played it as my second route and skipped most of Takeshi's story.
I loved the romance and Sora's character but that route was just a stepping stone for me to get to the other ones.Maybe if I played it before Tsugumi's I would realize its full potential.

[Funyarinpa]

Just now, NukeExplodes said:

I loved the romance and Sora's character but that route was just a stepping stone for me to get to the other ones.Maybe if I played it before Tsugumi's I would realize its full potential.

Opinion redeemed.

 

Didn't enjoy Tsugumi's route much myself because

1) Don't like tsunderes

2) The WM scene was spoiled for me

[NukeExplodes]

1 minute ago, Funyarinpa said:

Opinion redeemed.

 

Didn't enjoy Tsugumi's route much myself because

1) Don't like tsunderes

2) The WM scene was spoiled for me

I don't like tsunderes that much but I liked her regardless.
The WM scene was also spoiled for me but I still cried.

Spoiler

I cry at everything xD

 

[Ike]

Tsugumi's route deserves a 10/10 D:<  Other than that it's not a bad review.

I personally enjoyed more the plot-heavy parts, which are mainly the end of Sara's route, Tsugumi's route and Coco's route. Those parts alone make the reading very well worth it, but the beggining of all routes can be kind of slow-paced.

[Arzel]

I always liked Sora's route the most...

Spoiler

I've always thought human AI relationships to be interesting. Though pretty much all the VN's I have played that have a character like her's ends in tragedy or something.

Naturally, I knows the hacker

[NukeExplodes]

On 1/17/2016 at 4:02 AM, Ike said:

Tsugumi's route deserves a 10/10 D:<  Other than that it's not a bad review.

I personally enjoyed more the plot-heavy parts, which are mainly the end of Sara's route, Tsugumi's route and Coco's route. Those parts alone make the reading very well worth it, but the beggining of all routes can be kind of slow-paced.

Well,I personally liked Takeshi's two routes better at first,but after Sara's route I changed my mind. I was a bit harsh with the ratings,I must admit.

15 hours ago, Arzel said:

I always liked Sora's route the most...

  Hide contents

I've always thought human AI relationships to be interesting. Though pretty much all the VN's I have played that have a character like her's ends in tragedy or something.

Naturally, I knows the hacker

The romance in Sora's route was the best,but I wasn't too hooked on her route.Possibly because I wanted to get to the next route faster. I have a soft spot for characters like Sora.

[Funyarinpa]

15 hours ago, Arzel said:

I always liked Sora's route the most...

  Hide contents

I've always thought human AI relationships to be interesting. Though pretty much all the VN's I have played that have a character like her's ends in tragedy or something.

Naturally, I knows the hacker

My man.

[Scorp]

I would give it a 7. Because it is really TOO repetitive and TOO long. And repetitive. It have same flaw as most of high-rated novels like Fate, Tsukihime - they have too much scenes which are not significant to the plot or characters in any form. Like these infinite cooking works, like these useless events in Ever17 and almost word-by-word repeats of the same scene, but it is a NEW text, because one word is different. That's pathetic, really. And Uchikoshi learned something from Ever17, as 999 does not have any of these flaws. VLR have, but in much less amount and they are more enjoyable.

So actually all you give is the score for the true route. And you forget all these infinite hours of reading through feeble writing with useless scenes, yawning and thinking "when this all will end?? when the story would finally move on??", but no, you read again how in 5th time about Takeshi preparing more hamburghers, someone goes finding other people, finding people, coming back and stuff. And repeat. You told it is good? No, it is not. But the plot twists are sometimes amazing, so this VN deserves a good score, but not very good one.

[Scorp]

19 hours ago, Arzel said:

I always liked Sora's route the most...

Kids these days... As I am adult, I always want realistic relationship. I do not want to fap alone looking on some AI projection. I want to have kids with the woman I like. So I want people to do realistic things. Yes, I know, that VN is nowhere near realistic field, but still, that Sora romance story is just not believeable. Takeshi is not a virgin, he is good guy, and mostly reasonable, so I could never think that he will be really into this absurd of relationship. And that's why I totally understand and approve the gondola scene. Only way to truly love an AI is to create real person, which have AIs mind and memories, and that's total bullshit from fairy tales.

[Darklord Rooke]

1 hour ago, Scorp said:

I would give it a 7. Because it is really TOO repetitive and TOO long. And repetitive. It have same flaw as most of high-rated novels like Fate, Tsukihime - they have too much scenes which are not significant to the plot or characters in any form. Like these infinite cooking works, like these useless events in Ever17 and almost word-by-word repeats of the same scene, but it is a NEW text, because one word is different. That's pathetic, really. And Uchikoshi learned something from Ever17, as 999 does not have any of these flaws. VLR have, but in much less amount and they are more enjoyable.

So actually all you give is the score for the true route. And you forget all these infinite hours of reading through feeble writing with useless scenes, yawning and thinking "when this all will end?? when the story would finally move on??", but no, you read again how in 5th time about Takeshi preparing more hamburghers, someone goes finding other people, finding people, coming back and stuff. And repeat. You told it is good? No, it is not. But the plot twists are sometimes amazing, so this VN deserves a good score, but not very good one.

Not well paced, and a lot of the scenes aren't very elegantly designed. Too much focus on a twisting plot and not much else. If you take away the twist aspect, there's some glaring technique issues there.

Ever17 is very much overrated imo, but everyone has their own opinion.

[grim_tales1]

On 2016/1/16 at 8:12 PM, Funyarinpa said:

Opinion redeemed.

 

Didn't enjoy Tsugumi's route much myself because

1) Don't like tsunderes

2) The WM scene was spoiled for me

I dont like tsunderes either (I didnt know what a tsundere was when I first played it). Tsugumi was just mean and so rude But her story got more interesting.
Sora Best girl <3
I liked You too though

[solidbatman]

6 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Not well paced, and a lot of the scenes aren't very elegantly designed. Too much focus on a twisting plot and not much else. If you take away the twist aspect, there's some glaring technique issues there.

Ever17 is very much overrated imo, but everyone has their own opinion.

Yours just so happens to be wrong 

[grim_tales1]

I agree with hindsight that the pacing was slow though until the superb final route, some of the text is just the gang arguing about chicken sandwiches OK I can understand why they'd want to do some stuff to keep from getting bored but still.

[Down]

My opinion can be found right there if anyone's interested. /stema

1 hour ago, Scorp said:

Kids these days... As I am adult, I always want realistic relationship. I do not want to fap alone looking on some AI projection. I want to have kids with the woman I like. So I want people to do realistic things. Yes, I know, that VN is nowhere near realistic field, but still, that Sora romance story is just not believeable. Takeshi is not a virgin, he is good guy, and mostly reasonable, so I could never think that he will be really into this absurd of relationship. And that's why I totally understand and approve the gondola scene. Only way to truly love an AI is to create real person, which have AIs mind and memories, and that's total bullshit from fairy tales.

Adults these days... What prevents someone from enjoying a romance without relating to it? (or fapping to it, since you seem to reduce it to that aspect alone?) I'm not a very romantically inclined person but I enjoy fictional romances of all kinds, whether they're realistic or not, between kids or adults, heterosexual, homosexual or anything else you can imagine. I don't need to project myself in them as long as they're good.
Besides, trying to apply a criteria of "realism" to romance is kinda... not really relevant?

If you wanna give another try to AI romance in a piece a fiction that gives it more depth, watch the film "Her". It's beautiful.

[Darklord Rooke]

10 minutes ago, Down said:

My opinion can be found right there if anyone's interested. /stema

Really liked your review. Thought it addressed writing issues a certain Bat-like person failed to  

[grim_tales1]

I thought the Sora romance was beautiful <3