a twist of otome

In this short NaNoRenO otome game, you play as a really talented teacher known all over the country for your line of work. One day, you are summoned by a powerful businessman to train the chosen future CEO, a.k.a, one of his sons.The problem is, you have only three days to do this. Are you willing to take the challenge?


I first chose this route because Raizen reminds me of my own special someone. :)) They're both quiet, shy, reserved. Both are quite indecisive as well and just tend to go with the flow. Cool. Irregardless of whether or not he is similar to my guy, I found myself getting attached to this dude.

In his route, Teacher has a problem with his utter lack of decisions. Seriously. He's worse than liquid. He doesn't care about anything and he just lets other people do what they wanna do, and that's so wrong if you're going to handle a whole company! You need to have a say in things.

He's really sweet, but he tends to just ignore stuff and let things happen. I love their interactions together though, coz I really shined as a teacher in this route! Awesome huh.

He's a really adorable boy. The reason why I went for him next is because of his child-like looks that I absolutely love!

Oh, and delving deeper into his story, I see that he also has a lot of similarities with my SS, also known as special someone. Haha. They're both... child-like at times, and they're both so nice that people tend to abuse their niceness! Hahaha. As the future CEO of their company, Shinji can't be a pushover, so he needs to set limits for people. I can relate to what Teacher could feel in this route, because... well... sometimes, it does hurt to see someone take advantage of the kindness of others, right? Especially if that other person is a loved one.

The ending was really great though, it was so sweet! Haaaaah. <3 I loved his ending.


The flirtatious first-born of the Hakure family. Kyosuke is an all-around ladies man, a chickboy and playboy who ditches meetings to go on dates with random females.

Uh-oh, big problem for the company! They can't have a CEO who chooses to go to impromptu dates instead of meetings, so of course, Teacher has to solve that nasty habit!

My own special someone is not as flirty as this guy, but a lot of things in this route, I can relate to. Hahaha. The way he speaks to Teacher is sometimes the way my SS talks to me too. There's this one scene where he just suddenly hugs Teacher from behind and I... I totally squealed. Weeee. :") So sweet. Guys should do that to their girlfriends, you know? Those hugs from the backs. They're totally, adorably sweet.

And besides, Kyosuke's path is filled with stomach butterflies, I swear! I think his route has the sweetest ending of the four. :)

Right now, I am quite frustrated with the Ace Attorney series. :(

No, not just frustrated. Annoyed, irritated, disappointed.

See, I've been a fan of the series ever since I was in 5th grade. That was around the time Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (which you can buy here) was released. And also around the time I first fell in love with the German language because of Klavier Gavin and his ultimate hotness. *sigh*

Point me! Me!

But I digress. As I was saying, I've been a big fan of Ace Attorney for almost 6 years. And I've played every single one of their English games. Well, I haven't played Gyakuten Saiban 5 yet. And that crossover game between Phoenix and Professor Layton, who I also love by the way. (Seriously! I love the puzzles and everything, even though I've only played two of his games. Haha, I haven't bought the other ones yet.)

Ahem. Anyway, I love each and every one of the Ace Attorney games. The characters have grown on me, you know? And when I heard about Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies (which you currently cannot buy anywhere but the Nintendo eShop, unless you speak Japanese. And if you're a minor, unless if you're a Japanese minor, then you really can't buy it anywhere), I was thrilled. It's been months since it came out, but I only heard about the demo today. Today! Oh my gosh, so exciting.

So I booted up my pretty in pink 3DS, and hurried over to the eShop. And then... and then...

It asked me to type in my age.

And it did eventually ask me to update my previously outdated gadget. But, when I did so, however... it told me that I wasn't allowed to view the content that I so desperately waited to play.

What?! The game is rated M?!

This game.

To top it off, it's a download-only game for most, if not all, English speaking places. There's apparently no English retail version. Not yet, I hope. Because I seriously don't want to wait a year or two just to play this game. Huhuhu. :(

So yeah, I kinda just posted this as some sort of a rant or something. Haha. Do I sound like a whiny child? I apologize. :) It's just that, I love this series so much that it's quite disappointing.

It's crazy how one little thing can ruin an otherwise beautiful memory.

I've had a kinda dramatic day, and my eyes hurt. Technically, they just feel heavy I suppose. Why do eyelids get bloated anyway? Being an Asian, I have an almost monolid that I don't really like very much. But tonight... my eyes look like a frog's. Ugh. Haha.

I won't get into details, but... oh man, sometimes, people really should think hard before making decisions.

Okay, I know this is not directly related to visual novels, but, it's a bit indirectly related, so it should be okay. Haha.

Visual novels are filled with choices, right? Unlike a book, or a novel, a story's outcome will depend on the decisions you make and the choices you pick. If you get a bad end, the fault is all yours, and if you get a good end, then it still is your doing. It's like the future of the whole virtual world in the VN depends on you.

It's a lot similar to life.

You see, every decision we make can have a big impact on our lives. They're like ripples. Just one little droplet affects everything, and long after you do the action, the echoes will still travel throughout the place and go right back at you.

If you choose to hurt someone, be prepared to face the consequences of your actions. Whatever your choice may be, it will have an impact on your life, no matter how big or small it may be.

Who knows, what if you had to choose this windy morning between pants and a skirt? And since you chose pants, you managed to prevent a potentially embarrassing situation in the town square? Just... what if?

Think hard before you decide on something. Like what Hannah Baker from 13 Reasons Why said, "Everything affects everything."

Earth Girl is a really short kinetic novel about a girl who visits the Earth for research purposes. It's actually pretty self-explanatory. Hahaha.

Nice Day is a short visual novel from the writer of Reaching Out about the pain and regrets in an unrequited love.

It's quite a cute VN, to be honest, even though there are no sprites at all and very minimal art. Some parts are so simple that there's no art at all, only text in an NVL-style writing.

I don't know.

As for the music, it's pretty nice. The soundtracks are soothing and they match the pace of the VN well. It's relaxing enough for a good read.

The best thing this visual novel has to offer is the wonderful story. It may be simple, and it may be short, but it truly comes with emotions. It's obvious that the words came from the heart. I think it's a really touching story and I think the moral is something that we should always remember in life. 'The right time is always now.' Living without regrets.

That is the question.

It's a really short VN, around 10 minutes of gameplay and 2000 words, so I don't think it's necessary to write more things about the story. Haha. After all, it's really easy to squeeze this game into your schedule.

Download it here. :)

Nijiko: First Act is a demo of the visual novel Nijiko, which is currently still in progress. It tells the story of a college dropout named Kenta Kobayashi who works part-time in a bookstore with his friend Ren, and lives in a complex with his neighbor, bubbly teacher Mizuki. One day, Kenta sees a child outside the store who runs away when he talks to her. After a series of events, the girl, whose name is Alice, and Kenta meet again. What will happen now?

The first thing that struck me in this game is the cute visual theme. Oooooh, pink. Haha. And the GUI is perfectly kawaii as well. I just love the programming of the interface here.

Just take a look at this cool save screen. And, yep, before you ask, I first played this in May, but I kinda lost time and forgot about it, and I replayed it again today. Which turns out to be an awesome decision.


Stock art was used, although it appears that the maker has plans to create original drawings for this VN. I think that would be a great idea, because this game certainly deserves its own art. The story is beautiful like that.

And that's what I like the most about this visual novel. The story. It's really quite nice. It's not that heavy and it's actually quite lighthearted, but it's deep enough to be felt. There are some underlying issues with Kenta and his relationships with others, and I'm really intrigued to find out what those are. I sort of... connected to Kenta and his friends, in a way. To me, it's really important to let the player relate to the character to gain sympathy for them. Without that, players wouldn't care about what happens to the character or who she falls in love with or who he he settles with. It just wouldn't matter. So connection is definitely important.

One gripe I had with this VN is the tiny resolution. I'm not sure what exactly the numbers are though. I think 640x480? Something like that. It's really small! And if you try to make it big, it just won't look the same. *sigh* 800x600 resolution is a lot better than this I believe.

One stormy night, a boy is creating his customized player in a relatively new Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Just as he clicks the 'Submit' button, the power goes out, forcing him to wait until it goes back on to play the online game. Unbeknownst to him, his online character is already starting an adventure in the virtual world, all on its own...


First of all, I'd like to say that... this is one cute game! The visuals are stunning, the music is supreme, and the story is simply beautiful. What more do you expect from the awesome creators anyway? Circle Pegasi is the same group that made Days of the Divine, and the artist, Anna, is also the one who drew the sprites and CG art in Reaching Out.

This super long review (more like a synopsis) will contain spoilers. Lots of it. So, be warned.

The story is all about a girl named Clarisse, an out-of-school youth who worked at a food stand. One night in the park, she meets her childhood best friend Hanyuan, who tries her best to convince Clarisse to go back to school. Little does she know the true situation behind these actions...



The first thing I noticed was the music. The soundtracks in this VN are haunting, chilling, and perfectly capable of setting the hopeless ambiance the visual novel has.

As for the art, it's alright, although there were some awkward inconsistencies in Clarisse's and Hanyuan's sprites. For the CGs though, the art is really beautiful, as you can see below. Amazing, right? The colors really pop out, even though most are dark because of the nocturnal setting of the game.

There is one thing I noticed though. The transitions weren't always correct, such as in the picture shown above where Clarisse's new pose was simply on top of the other sprite instead of replacing the old one. It's probably because of the programming though, or the file name. Nevertheless, it was kinda distracting for a while.

Oh, by the way, there's voice acting !Woohoo. I'm okay with un-voiced visual novels, but voiced ones are definitely fun too. :) I just loved Hanyuan's voice. Clarisse's was okay, though I wish the voice actress had used a clearer mic similar to Hanyuan's actress. Disappointingly, the other characters' voices weren't as high-quality as the protagonists, but they're alright. Haha.

Seraph and Hellion is a GxB fantasy visual novel, about a pinball-playing girl named Aili who meets Leigh, some random dude from school, and Demetri, another random dude from the arcade.

As you can probably notice, I have extremely mixed feelings about this VN.

First of all, the soundtrack was epic, I swear. Haha. I started up the game and the first thing I heard was this epic-sounding music and bam! I was amazed. For most of the tracks, I can't fault this VN. They were definitely bad-ass. Especially the main menu theme and the battle scene track. Whooooo. Epic.

However, for those who are aspiring visual novel makers, if you have one scene that lasts only 5-10 lines that switches to another short scene, don't use the same background music. It can, and will, sound repetitive, such as the one here in the VN. Specifically in the slice-of-life scenes.

Aren't you too quick in making assumptions?

Speaking of slice-of-life, this is where the problem starts. Like I said, in making a VN, we should be careful about making a good plot to weave the story together. And that's where Seraph & Hellion comes up short. The story felt way too rushed and barely believable. This visual novel totally leaves you eating dust as it speeds through every event.

 The last scene took me by surprise, as it literally came out of nowhere. There was no prior dialogues or events that suggested anything to lead to the final scene. It had me scratching my head in utter confusion. "What's happening?"



You can check this game out here.

Mirage Noir is a [GxB] fantasy and mystery visual novel by Noire from the LemmaSoft Forums. This review is about the prologue part of the story, currently the only one released.

Mirage Noir. Epic start screen.

Oh my gosh, I didn't expect that I would like this VN so much. Hahaha.

First of all, the game starts out really slowly. Although I have to say, the sound effects were awesome! I was totally in awe of the sounds. Hahaha. Some SFX actually took me by surprise. :)

Secondly, I didn't like the fact that the narrators' names were always visible even when they're just thinking. It's really confusing, because it's like they were saying everything out loud. I'm used to seeing the narrator's lines as... I dunno, understood already. You know that he/she is the MC, so we don't bother with the names anymore unless she's talking to somebody in order to distinguish the speaker.

Some dark stuff here.

But lo and behold, this VN managed to suprise me-- in a very good way.

Firstly, the CG art is breath-taking. I can't say the same for the sprite art, even though they were also done quite beautifully and even comically at times. Haha. Compared to the CGs, they were less amazing.


For the second, I say that the way this VN was presented is definitely new to me. Here we have two MCs, Vesper and Vienna, and it's nice to see how the story is so different from each other's oint of view. I think it gives us have this omniscient view of the story, since we know all their thoughts and feelings, as opposed to most VNs out there. In fact, this is probably the only VN I've played that features two different point-of-views of the same story simultaneously.

And the characters? There are only two of them-- well, three, if you count the adorable snow leopard Paw-- but they are fleshed out really nicely. They seem like real people to me. Very beautifully made, but with their own flaws and shortcomings. Paw, Vienna's familiar, is just a nice addition. As you know, snow leopards are my favorite kind of animal. They are simply magically majestic and I love them so. :")

Ha! So don't you wonder why I love Mirana. Her tigress looks like a snow leopard, with the pretty white color.

And anyway, despite some typos and errors in the script, the words flow quite nicely in this visual novel. I just hope the writer gets a proofreader for this to make it cleaner and error-free, in terms of the writing.

Also, a GUI customization should totally happen! The textbox doesn't fit the rest of the visual novel much. It's just the standard Ren'Py style so... I think it's such a shame. It could be so much better you know.

Kyaaaaa! So sweet. Omo omo omo. :")

Because of those graphics, and the awesome story-telling, I totally fell in love with Vesper, the male MC! Ha. He is so gosh darn beautiful. I wish he and Vienna ends up together. :3

Although, to be honest, the ending scene left me heartbroken. Huuuuu. :( I hope everything turns out well, you know? I just can't wait for the next chapter! Haha. I wish it would be released soon. Hahaha.

Ahem, so, for all the awesome aspects to this VN, I give it 9/10 strawberries! Took one point for the slow start, the typos and errors, and the lack of a customized textbox. Lol. Coz when it comes to close-to-perfect VNs like this, I'm picky like that. Hahaha. =)

Please, play this! It's really quite amazing. :") Download it here~

I suppose you're here because you wanna make a visual novel of your own, huh?

And that's awesome! Really. I remember when I first started reading VNs. I was so interested in them that I wanted to make one too. So I understand that you probably feel the same way I felt before.

However. there is one problem.

How to do it?

Believe it or not, it's pretty easy to start creating your own visual novel. The real challenge is how to make a good one that people would actually play or read. That's what you should focus on for now.

I am not an advanced creator or anything, haha, as a matter of fact, I have only one game under my belt. And a short game at that too. But I have a few things to share to those who are interested in this new-ish form of art, so... feel free to read this article if you wish.

Let's get down to the basics before anything else. Firstly, what do you need to make a visual novel?

ART

A VN (visual novel) is not a VN without the visual part. Without the art, it's just a novel, just like how you'd read a book on your computer. That's all it would be.

Seasons of Love screenshot, with free sprites from Tokudaya.

Art is extremely important in a visual novel. It technically has a big-- if not straight out huge-- impact on the game. Many readers, especially the newer ones, tend to choose the visual novels they play based on how good the art is. You don't want to lose potential readers just because of low-quality and poorly-drawn art, do you?

Then again, that's another problem. What if you're not the artsy kind of person? Like me. Haha. I'm not a good artist, so I can't make my own sprites or my own backgrounds. :( That's a shame, and to be honest, I'm trying to learn how. As a starting visual novel maker, you need to get used to the feeling of creating a VN first. It's okay to use free resources for your projects you know, and it can help you gain some experience in this VN-making life.

Here are some free art (sprites and BGs) from the OELVN wiki. Even though the stuff posted here are free, be sure to read the Terms of Use when choosing free stuff for your game, and to give credit when you do use them. You wouldn't want to unknowingly steal someone else's property. :)

STORY

This is an extremely important part of a VN. I dare say that it's the one aspiring creators should focus most on.

A dedicated reader will still go through your VN even without high-quality art, (but not so bad that it'll be a pain to see) but few genuine fanatics of this sub-genre will struggle through a visual novel with a bad writing and barely understandable story.

And it's not just the story that's important. You must be careful about your grammar, punctuation, figures of speech, etc. It's hard to read a book with sentences like, "she played in the playground. Wid the children whose, are there." I know, I know, that's an extreme example. But you get my point. Haha.

A visual novel without a coherent story and a well-thought out plot doesn't have much going for it I believe.

MUSIC

Some people seem to think that music isn't a very important part of VN making, but truthfully, it's a vital part in setting the ambiance or the "feel" of the story.

For example, in a horror type VN, what would be the perfect way to set the mood for the scares? With music of course, preferably the scary type. ;)

It works with romance visual novels as well. What could possibly heighten the romantic factor in the story more than some sweet, melodious song or music? Exactly.

You should also learn how to use sound effects well. They can certainly add to the punch in your VN if utilized properly.

Again, here are some free resources from the OELVN wiki. You can also use music from Mr. Kevin MacLeod's site, Incompetech, which I personally love by the way. Don't overuse his music though, since there are lots of other VNs out there who use the same sounds. Still, his tracks are quite pretty, you might want to check them out. Again, don't forget to check out the license for his music. Sound effects are also available from SoundJay.

ENGINE

Last but not the least, you have to think about what you need to finally create the visual novel of your dream. You have amazing art, check. You have a superb story, check. You have some kick-ass music, check. But even if you combine all of these in a single folder on your computer, you still won't be able to create a VN without an engine that will allow you to do just that.

Luckily, there are many engines you could pick from in making your own VN.

REN'PY

Ren'Py is probably the most commonly used engine for freeware VNs. It's a little hard for newbies to get used to, but it allows absolute customization and easy scripting. You just have to learn some basic python codes, but it's relatively easy to learn if you keep up with it.

Ren'Py engine

One thing you have to keep in mind is that sometimes, it can be so frustrating and confusing to code! I'm not an experienced coder by any chance, but there were some moments in my VN-making times where I felt like giving up because of the headaches caused by the countless flags and routes that I had to program and organize. I personally call those times Programmer's Hell. Lol. I don't know where I got the idea, but... that term refers to the feeling of being trapped among all the snippets of codes in the scripts. Stuck in programmer's hell.

Basic "programming" in Ren'Py using jEdit. From the Ren'Py tutorial.

Though admittedly, compared to real programming, Renpy is just a piece of cake, so go ahead and try it. It's quite fun once you get the hang of it. :)

NOVELTY

Novelty, on the other hand, is for beginners who want to invest their time in writing, scripting, and drawing rather than programming the visual novel. It's a lot easier to use, I heard. I haven't given it a try yet in terms of actual VN production, but I checked it out and it does seem pretty easy to use. A lot easier than Ren'Py, although the latter provides more options for customization.

screenshot of Novelty's homepage

In the end, it's up to you to choose your own engine. Either one is fine and good, but Ren'Py is better for coders while Novelty is more beginner-friendly.

BASS

By the way, another option is BassNovel, although I think it's an online visual novel creator. There are available free sprites and backgrounds in this site as well. I can't say much about it as of this article's writing since I don't know much about this site. All I know is that there are free resources. Haha. Still, you should use those at your own risk and don't forget to give credit!

Bassnovel homepage

ATTITUDE

Lastly, you need to have the proper attitude. I think this is also an important aspect. Creating a VN takes a lot of time, hard work, and even sleep, so you have to be patient and actually passionate about it in order to make it work. It doesn't matter if it takes you months or even years to complete it; just do it. Motivation is the key to finishing a visual novel. Even if the whole world is against you in the production - for whatever reason that could possibly be - if you are determined to do it, then you will finish it. You have to have the right attitude to face all the problems that could come with this.

Whatever may happen, always have a smile on your face and keep moving forward. This is not just about visual novels, but about life in general. You'll never reach anything if you give up easily. Just strive and strive, and you'll reap the fruits of your labor. In this case, a sweet, sweet visual novel you can call your own.

Okay, so that's it. Those are just the basic things you need in making a VN. Haha, I hope you got something out of it. Also, this is just the first part. Please watch out for the next article!

Thanks for reading!

Perfect Chemistry is a free GxB visual novel by Elekctra-fied Productions.

You're... you're a...

All characters are like that, except for a minor character, a pink-haired girl in the sleepover part whose head, for a while, peeks up from behind the textbox. It kinda reminds me of the same problem with the sprites in Idol Crush, which all end at the waist.

First of all, I would like to apologize for disappearing for so long.

Storm Santi wrecked my town, and the power was down for 16 days. Sixteen days! That's the longest I had to go without electricity at home. It's good that generators kept our town running though. Still, I'm glad I go to school in a different city, so at least I didn't have to stay all day in our dark abode. And I'm happy that we have electricity already, before Halloween. It sure would be creepy if I was living in a dark town on Hallow's eve!

But anyway, speaking of Halloween, here's a good visual novel I found just in time for this annual occasion.

Story:
Rattia Brown is sent to the village of Star Veil to get some field experience as a member of the Edge Guard, along with her commanding officer. However, what was meant to be easy becomes harder when ghostly creatures begin to appear in the woods surrounding the town. Worse still, the moon seems to have grown dim.
The Buried Moon was Created for Asylum Jam by Metal Orphans & Co.

Thoughts:
- The opening theme is definitely chilling! The soundtrack in the whole game makes up the creepy atmosphere I believe. I'd really hate to hear those tunes at night when I'm alone! They send shivers up my spine.

- The art reminds me of Geronimo Stilton. :) Actually, perhaps it's only because the protagonist here is a rat girl, but, meh. Geronimo Stilton is a mystery type novel for kiddies though, so... I guess you could say it's quite related here. :)

- Oh, and speaking of art, it's absolutely cute! Haha. I love the softness of the lines and the colors. And besides, the purplish hue gives off the feeling of... Halloween. Hahaha.


- However, due to the largeness of the handsome bat, Major Terra, sometimes the screen would get too crowded. Character blocking! Lol, kidding. But, yeah, that's my only gripe with the art. I'm not that picky, but I'm a bit of a claustro, even if it's just visual claustrophobia. Haha.

- The characters are okay. They all have their own personalities and I like all of them, although (spoiler!) when Teto disappeared, I hadn't been attached enough to care about it. I mean, it happened too suddenly that there wasn't enough time for me a a reader to feel the emotions that the protagonist felt.

- (spoiler again!) When the "creatures" or "Unclean Spirits" first appeared, I was actually quite scared. Hahahaha. The description of what it could do made me shiver. :)


- As for the ending, it's quite alright. I was a bit disappointed, but, hey, Mother Moon is so pretty and kind, lol, she's my favorite character. At least we got to find her in the story. Haha, I don't want to spoil too much, so just check it out to find out what I'm talking about. :) And besides, if you've read my other blog posts, you'll know that I'm a big fan of time travel so, yeah.

- The best thing? It's not just a simple visual novel, it's also a kind of a point and click Inspector Parker kind of game. :) That's definitely a bonus.

The bottom line is, with the cute visuals, great story and cool music, there's no reason not to play this game. It's quite short too, so it should be easy to squeeze this in your schedule before you go trick-or-treating.

Happy Halloween guys!

Download it here!

I'm so sorry for the long absence! I've been so busy in school. *sigh* We have so many events, projects, exams!

Ahem, anyway, I managed to play the first part of this visual novel during my free time. Hooray! I downloaded it this summer but only got to try it now. It looks pretty interesting. The title is re]de[flection and it's a NaNoRenO 2013 entry.


Thoughts
- The overall plot looks pretty interesting. I shall save judgement for later though.
- I love the introduction. I feel like I am about to ride some horror train and there's this mask girl warning me about the sights.

Reflection/Deflection is a compilation of many short stories.






Tava & Rymu
- According to an old prophecy, the child of the Sea God will bring about a change to the people. Now, in this small island, everybody is the same. Dark-haired, have dark eyes, and tanned skin. Tava is just like this. However, his childhood friend, Rymu, is a little different. Unlike the others, she has pale blue eyes. Ever since they were kids, Rymu has been treated differently because the people think she is the child of the sea god. One day, Rymu suddenly goes missing. Tava looks for her and... badam!

We see the creepy masked girl from the introduction.

---- not yet done with this though, but I'll update this when I finish. :)

He says he has been accused of a crime he did not commit, and requests their help.

But the Knights are not what they once were. Utrecht, god of Justice and their patron deity, has been missing for ten years, and can no longer lend them magic or guidance. 

Crocket, an unexperienced young squire, steps forward...

Thoughts:
- I love the injected bits of humor.

- I just love the art style. It's very different from both the "traditional" anime art and the western art style, but I really like it. :)

- The story is the best thing this novel has. The visuals are great, but the story is simply... beautiful. I love the way it's written, and I love how everything unfolds.

- The relationship between the stranger and Crocket is extremely... fascinating.

- Crocket reminds me a bit of myself. -___- I'm not childish, per se, but I... am quite... "child-like" It's child-like, okay?! Childish is when you throw tantrums or complain or grumble all the time. Child-like is when you're... "innocent", and easily pleased by the simple things in life. Like Crocket. She gets happy quite easily I think. :)  She's not being shallow, she's genuinely happy. And despite being a knight, her underlying innocence is visible in the way she speaks.

- The Stranger... I dunno, his conversations with Crocket makes my heart beat oh-so-fast sometimes. It's really nakakakilig. (Nakakakilig: a Filipino word that means... err... it's when you see your crush and your heart starts beating wild and you want to scream out because of love and such. Hahaha.) I really like the two of them. There's this chemistry and it's really interesting. I'm a bit disappointed it didn't work out.

- Speaking of interesting, Deedra and Douglas are both quite interesting as well. Their relationship too, fascinates me.

- Murphy may look like a simple character, but I think he's quite complex. I quite li-- Oh gosh, I like all the characters. Can I just make a character review or something? :( [Be warned! Spoilers ahead.]

CROCKET - Really simple, and quite child-like in many ways. Even though she may seem stupid and slow, her heart is pure and innocent, as most "stupid" and "slow" characters are. I think this is because they don't think or plan to become better than others because they're okay with themselves being simple. She's a really interesting character, as despite being simple, she has a lot of depth to her.

He's... sort of tsundere. In a way.

THE STRANGER - His mystery-shrouded persona fascinates me so. And he's my favorite character. Well, was. Despite... everything that happened. At first, he was presented as a "criminal", but I just decided that he's innocent. Lol. He's kinda... tsundere, but more on the tsun tsun side. In the end, he kinda switched to dere dere for a while, but then... a horrible plot twist happened! :( I am still grieving for the story. I hope... I hope he's simply misunderstood. =) Keep your fingers crossed.

Crazy is the term.

DOUGLAS - He and Deedra serve the same Master. His personality is also complex, as the other characters' personalities are. He seems evil at first glance, but I think he has a pretty good heart. Heck, I'd like to believe he does. Even though... I still don't like him that much. I just like him better than his partner. Besides, like Deedra said, he and Crocket... does seem... no, not similar, more like, compatible? Not in a romantic way of course. In a sibling-y kind of way. They honestly look so cute together! When they're not fighting and when Douglas is not being the irritating smarty-pants he usually is. -____- And besides, he can be cruel and heartless too, believe me. Maybe he's got a split personality or something. Kidding.

Her face... reminds me of the Beldam from Coraline.

DEEDRA - She and Douglas serve the same Master. I sort of don't like Deedra. From the start, I already didn't like her. She seemed like a sadistic, abusive woman who's always giggling creepily. And my dislike for her only worsened when she left Douglas alone in the iron cage. I mean, they're partners! Why would she leave him there?! And besides, I just... don't like her. I don't. Wait, did I mention that I don't like her? Though... I kinda feel bad for her in the end.

Strangely, I think he's charismatic.

MURPHY - He's the leader of the Knights of Utrecht. He's really quite the guy, even though he's blind. I... like him. He seems to be like a father figure, or at least an older brother figure to Crocket. I like the way he speaks. Haha.

She's nice. Enough. Nice enough.

KIA - She's Crocket's best childhood friend. Or not quite. She's quite... a meanie, but... not in a mean way. Ugh. It's complicated. But... that's Kia.

GILLAN -Kia's grandfather. He has been a Knight for a long time. He's really quite wise, as most old men are, but he has quite a temper. Nevertheless, he's also quite a character. I like his epilogues.

--DISLIKE--
- The lack of any good ending. Hahaha. This is a personal dislike guys. :) I understand that some like this, since... "not everything has a happy ending". I... respect that, but... I still would have liked it if something vaguely good actually happened. Especially since the characters here had such amazing relationships. It's sad to see that... nothing came of them all.

Anyway, I truly recommend that you guys read this visual novel! It's a really nice one. I give it 9 out of 10 strawberries. I only took one point because of the lack of a truly good end (this is a personal reason. Haha, I'm a sucker for happy endings), but... aside from that, this VN is truly amazing. :)

Download it here~