/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Played through the first two 9 -nine- episodes. Many thanks to the anon from previous thread for reminding me this series exists.

Without any exaggeration I can say that Sora was a 10/10 heroine and I doubt the next two episodes' girls will manage to live up to her in any way, like holy shit she's just fantastic and basically carries the whole thing, plus the banter is also made better by a voiced protagonist. One of the rare times I've been invested in both the plot and the heroine of the route. I only played the main girl route from Nanarin and dropped Akeiro after a few routes so this game might eventually end up being my favorite from the writer, assuming later episodes also manage to deliver.

Plot wise I'm not sure I like the idea of sequel hooks both in previous and this episode plainly spoiling the villain of the next episode in the fucking epilogue, I mean sure, they're obviously trying to hook the players into buying the next episode but come the fuck on at least pretend to be subtle about it. Aside from that, frankly I haven't been that amazed by any twists so far, and in the second episode as well it feels the game veers somewhat towards tangential heroine specific drama by its end rather than constantly driving the main plot forward. Speaking of plot in general, this series is seemingly taking the somewhat 王道 type approach of every subsequent route being slightly less of a bad end & protag's party getting closer to the villain deal so I'd wish they at least subverted that expectation in some way in the subsequent episodes, how about giving us a really heart crushing true end the next time. Obviously the next episode is going to be about befriending Ren'ya and Ghost while finding more stuff about the REAL background villain, and since we're likely getting 4 episodes the next one will probably also end up being taking a similar approach to the previous two.

As for some "anti-nitpicks", i.e. small things I've really liked so far, as someone who absolutely abhors time loops or alternate timeline games where no character realizes obvious shit like that until the final route, I personally liked that the plot important character actually pays lip service to what happened in previous routes and even briefly explains the thing to the protagonist rather than it being kept as some sort of "secret". Or stuff like the protagonist narrating he didn't fall for Ghost's friendly behavior in the slightest and was looking for a way to escape all along even if he does end up getting fucked regardless, rather than being a complete retard. While stuff like that isn't anything major, I really like the game at least giving (maybe unintentional) slight nods against some mindbogglingly stupid cliches you usually see in this medium. In general, while there hasn't been anything mindblowing so far there hasn't been any WHY moments either.

Also, like some people on EGS rightfully complained, the "you can enjoy these episodes as standalones and even if you're a newcomer" marketing on the official websites for each episode is a straight up lie made up to hide the fact it's one game cut into 4 parts: the routes are obviously intended to be played back to back. Regardless I can't wait for the third episode, but knowing my luck now that I'm somewhat looking forward to something I'll probably end up jinxing it and it'll turn out to be complete shit or the series gets completely canned.