/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Finally finished Juuzaengi 1. It's a long game with six main routes, so clearing it takes a while. It has also earned a longer review.

The game is a very loose adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, though aside from the character names, general story roles and countries, it mainly does its own thing. The story
has two central points - Cao Cao and his military and state-building ambitions and the attempts of the Maozoku tribe to live their lives amidst the turbulent world of humans. The conflict between her desire for peace and normalcy and the knowledge that she can influence and change things for the better if she gets involved is also the core axis of the heroine’s character development.

Juuzaengi 1 is very much a game focused on the plot, worldbuilding, and character development; those looking for romance will probably be disappointed, because most Kan’u / Guan Yu’s relationships are something else first and romantic second - for the guys, she is mainly a challenger, a comrade, a rival, a mother, a guardian, or a sister, who can also become something more. This change also doesn't have to be entirely positive.

Routes: The game is more or less split between the two main routes - Liu Bei, the young chief of the Maozoku tribe, and Cao Cao, the ambitious military commander whose arrival starts the events of the game. These two also remain extremely prominent in all the other routes, especially Cao Cao.
Cao Cao’s route is the most tense and action-packed and gives tons of character development to both the main and secondary characters; Liu Bei’s is more intimate and domestic, with a dash of fantasy to contrast Cao Cao route’s realism. The rest of the routes essentially orbit these two, though Zhao Yun/Chouun and Zhang Liao/Chouryu's stray away in their own direction.

Verdict:
Juuzaengi is an excellent VN with a strong and dedicated MC, great world, and lively and well-developed characters and relationships. It has its weak points (Chouhi/Zhang Fei’s route doesn't work too well in its later stages and has considerably weaker writing than the rest of the game) and it never reaches such stunning heights as Nitroplus’ Soukou Akki Muramasa for example, but it still stands head and shoulders above the usual VN fare, especially otome games.

9/10