Visual Novel Review: Nanolife
12/08/2013One 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.
And so... This kid, Chaz, created this character on this new MMORPG, but the power went out so he couldn't play anymore. However, the character, Chaz, was already created. Sort of. He appeared in the game without any player controlling him, unknown to Chaz, the real guy. And like I said in the short summary above, he started an adventure all on his own.
I'm just gonna call him Chu, so that we won't be confused. Hahaha. Ahem. Anyway, Chu is a sweet, young knight of 16 who was apparently left alone by his father. Aww, sad. It's his mission to get stronger and kill pom-poms, though he was apprehensive to do the latter because, well, he's sweet like that.
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New definition of Non-Playable Character |
But Iris is really nice anyway, and Chu is like a sweet bunny, so the two of them form a team. Hey, she gave him two yum-yums! That must be delicious. :3 It would have also helped in their first mission, which is to defeat a witch in a nearby cave, if he hadn't felt sad for witnessing another pom-pom die.
Back to the witch. Apparently, the (adorably cute) witch devours people from the place. Which is quite true. Still, they do manage to sorta defeat her, with the help of a cute (seriously, everything in this visual novel is cute) kitty who let them pass through the gate.
Before they could celebrate though, a mod message appears saying that a hacker has managed to infiltrate the game and everybody is advised to log out ASAP. Iris calls Orion, a moderator, for help, but much to my shock and disappointment, he erases Chu's character from existence, never to be seen again.
The End.
Kidding. Hahahaha. If you talk to Alesia instead of going with Iris to the cave, you'll go through the 2nd route. Personally, I felt so heartbroken in this path. Huuuuuuuu. :(
Alesia is the beautiful and kind-hearted lady who people approach whenever they need help on anything. She answers players' questions and teaches them the mechanics, the rules, and just simply how to play the game. Basically, she's the tutorial.
Unfortunately, our cute little hero isn't aware of something we know as "programming" and assumes that Alesia is a living, breathing human being. As far as computer-generated 'humans' go anyway. But Chu wants to help Alesia, and tries to make her join his team. Which she can't do, because she's just a tutorial.
This is where he meets Zale, a friendly moderator who tries to explain to Chu how Alesia works. But for poor Chu, there are no scripts or programming in this world; the only thing that exists is his reality, this virtual reality.
Chaz then appears out of nowhere, coz the power's most probably back on now, and suddenly, he is automatically transported into Chu's character. Because they're supposed to be the same. Maybe the one who was controlling Chu was just a hacker or something. Problem solved.
Nu-uh. Just as they all thought everything was going back to normal, something strange happened. Alesia started talking. As in really talking, without a programmed script.
Woah. What's happening?!
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Play to find out! :)
Hahaha, sorry, I guess I rambled on for far too long. Anyway, after completing the first two routes, you will unlock the third route, Zale's, and I consider this as the "true" path because it contains the real ending. You have to play all three endings in order to get the whole story. Don't worry, they're all relatively short, and you'll have a lot of good time playing as well. The story was written in an even pace. Not too slow, and not too fast. And it's such a feel-good game, with the cute visuals and all. :")
Seriously speaking, the story is the best thing this game has to offer. Just... play it! Gosh. Hahaha. It's really good, promise. Just click this link and download Nanolife. Hahaha. =) This game gets the 10/10 strawberries that it truly deserves. <3
1 berries
thanks ^_^
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