- Oct 4, 2015
- 686
- 201
Yeah, I found 塔の下のエクセルキトゥス pretty awful too. I don't agree that there's no relationship development at all, I remember the hero at least helping each heroine overcome their weakness so that's a start. Is this enough to bring all these young women into offering themselves to him... probably not, at least I didn't feel so. The typical "eroge with gameplay" approach forcing the player into a harem situation also makes it very hard to believe in the MC's words when he says he loves someone : while individual "routes" felt fine by themselves, the fact that you can do them all at once rather than one at a time, and that fucking each girl at least once is mandatory, just killed it for me.
Gameplay-wise, the game system is broken and so easy to exploit, it's really a waste. The cards art was pretty nice, but there is absolutely zero reason to use the vast majority of them. Heroines are quickly surpassed by monster girls who can break 2/3 shields for 0 mana, and using the cards you get for completing heroines routes makes the game so easy, dungeons become nothing more than a chore by the end. A very easy to come-up with combo is enough to one turn kill most encounters, final boss included, very disappointing.
I've been playing 見上げてごらん、夜空の星を too. I still like it so far, even though my opinion of the game keeps slowly going down, after peaking the first time the MC looks at the stars. That scene was actually pretty moving and brought some tears to my eyes.
The common route was fine, though lacking in moving scenes from there on. I have a faint interest in astronomy but I have to say the constellation explanations went flying over my head most of the time. I wish they made more little animations actually showing where you're supposed to be looking at, like in Miharu's evening class star gazing. I was more often than not just staring blankly at the sky CG, cursing my own ignorance. Also, a few more explanations of the actual inner workings of a reflecting/refracting telescope would have been nice, nothing that isn't solved by a quick wikipedia lookup but still.
Entering the "romance" part, things are starting to break down. I'm currently partly through Korona's route, by accident more than anything. I was actually aiming for Saya first, but it ends up "turning down" Hikari meant I got stuck choosing between Korona and Orihime... not nice, game. I actually recommend NOT doing Korona's route first, as there's a pretty big reveal concerning Saya and Hikari that is spoiled.
So far in Korona's route, it's an exercise in patience : there's a lot of time spent in the heroine's point-of-view, I'm waiting for it to end but said patience is starting to run out. It's hard to see how the MC could hook up with her, since so far the only interest in women he has shown is a juvenile 'oppai oppai' kind of things, zero feelings. He's also the worst kind of donkan to me, the kind who not only misinterprets things, but chooses to ignore what signs he perceives to stay safely in his little bubble. Well, after the second confession, can't ignore it anymore... I reserve my judgment for now, but I'm not too optimistic.
Also, so much drama could have been avoided if Mr Akito would just open his mail... and I hope there's a bonus Miharu route!
EDIT : Turns out I was right at the end of the heroine's POV part, and that the MC actually had feelings for her? Okay... The rest of Korona's route is sweet icha-icha time with a science project on the side. Said science project felt a little short compared to the one in the common route, both in terms of scale and efforts, but it was pretty nice. No more drama in sight although there are issues left unsolved (Korona's mother?).
No bonus route unlocked after completing the game once probably means no Miharu bonus, although there's still this mysterious unfilled button on the bottom left of the title screen that intrigues me. Maybe a True End ?
Gameplay-wise, the game system is broken and so easy to exploit, it's really a waste. The cards art was pretty nice, but there is absolutely zero reason to use the vast majority of them. Heroines are quickly surpassed by monster girls who can break 2/3 shields for 0 mana, and using the cards you get for completing heroines routes makes the game so easy, dungeons become nothing more than a chore by the end. A very easy to come-up with combo is enough to one turn kill most encounters, final boss included, very disappointing.
Finishing Izumo's events gets you a spell that allows you to strike again, Shiro's (I think?) gets you one that makes you redraw the 4 last spells you used. So these two spells + two mana recharging spells means you can strike 3 times on your first turn, before the enemy can retaliate... Just put these 4 spells in your deck to ensure you always draw these exact cards, and combine with Shanon's attack boosting leader passive ability for maximum cheesiness.
I've been playing 見上げてごらん、夜空の星を too. I still like it so far, even though my opinion of the game keeps slowly going down, after peaking the first time the MC looks at the stars. That scene was actually pretty moving and brought some tears to my eyes.
The common route was fine, though lacking in moving scenes from there on. I have a faint interest in astronomy but I have to say the constellation explanations went flying over my head most of the time. I wish they made more little animations actually showing where you're supposed to be looking at, like in Miharu's evening class star gazing. I was more often than not just staring blankly at the sky CG, cursing my own ignorance. Also, a few more explanations of the actual inner workings of a reflecting/refracting telescope would have been nice, nothing that isn't solved by a quick wikipedia lookup but still.
Entering the "romance" part, things are starting to break down. I'm currently partly through Korona's route, by accident more than anything. I was actually aiming for Saya first, but it ends up "turning down" Hikari meant I got stuck choosing between Korona and Orihime... not nice, game. I actually recommend NOT doing Korona's route first, as there's a pretty big reveal concerning Saya and Hikari that is spoiled.
So far in Korona's route, it's an exercise in patience : there's a lot of time spent in the heroine's point-of-view, I'm waiting for it to end but said patience is starting to run out. It's hard to see how the MC could hook up with her, since so far the only interest in women he has shown is a juvenile 'oppai oppai' kind of things, zero feelings. He's also the worst kind of donkan to me, the kind who not only misinterprets things, but chooses to ignore what signs he perceives to stay safely in his little bubble. Well, after the second confession, can't ignore it anymore... I reserve my judgment for now, but I'm not too optimistic.
Also, so much drama could have been avoided if Mr Akito would just open his mail... and I hope there's a bonus Miharu route!
EDIT : Turns out I was right at the end of the heroine's POV part, and that the MC actually had feelings for her? Okay... The rest of Korona's route is sweet icha-icha time with a science project on the side. Said science project felt a little short compared to the one in the common route, both in terms of scale and efforts, but it was pretty nice. No more drama in sight although there are issues left unsolved (Korona's mother?).
No bonus route unlocked after completing the game once probably means no Miharu bonus, although there's still this mysterious unfilled button on the bottom left of the title screen that intrigues me. Maybe a True End ?
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