Area-X

I just reviewd the first game of the series X-Note so I felt I should do the same for this one as I may have enjoyed this one even more than the first game despite having played through each route three times in the other one and only one and a half on this one, half is me being generous because I've only played through two of the five guys' routes. (Don't let the time fool you I played this before it was on steam) I really should replay all of them though because the characters are just as great as the story it's self. I talked about how the art first drew me to X-Note in my other review and the artwork is still amazing but I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed just listening to it as well. This goes for both games in this series I could rewatch the opening sequence over and over just for that alone. Now the only thing I could say negatively about the game would be the mini-games I didn't hate them but I didn't care for them either though they didn't frustrate me like X-Note's did so that's a plus. I truely don't think that takes anything away from the story though so whether you do or don't find the mini games to be your cup of tea I recomend you try this game out and if you play through all the routes and have played X-Note the whole thing really ends up being one big interconnected story in a way that I just loved. Btw all the boys are awesome in their own way but Yuras is the best and I stand by that all the way!

My personal feelings on Area-X: [i]"Yes! One of my favorite visual novels of all time."[/i] [url=zeiva.net/otome/area_x_game_demo.html]There's a (downloadable/online) demo on the dev's website if you're interested in trying out first.[/url] [list] [*]Around 15 hours of reading. [*]Likeable and interesting characters. [*]Great story. No, really. [*]Beautiful art, beautiful backgrounds, beautiful CGs, but sadly undermined by the game's lower resolution (800x600) [*]Dialogue font might be a bit small. [*]Unusual controls. You press the down arrow to advance the text (or click on the text box), and hold it down to skip text (both read and unread). You press the up arrow to "roll back" the text, although there are times when it can't do so (can't go back after a transition, choice etc.). [*]The time-traveling is a story thing, not gameplay, in case you came here hoping for that. [*]It's also not overtly romantic (Zeiva's games rarely are), so come in with a low romance expectation. [*]Echoing that it's still a great story regardless of the two points above. [*]There are puzzles. A lot of them are easy, but some are pretty... tricky? Obscure? What's the word. In any case, [url=zeiva.net/otome/area_x_guide.html]I used the official guide[/url] from the get go so the puzzles never became an obstacle in progressing the story. [/list] [b]General tips:[/b] [list] [*]On the top of the screen there's that ? button. It brings up a map of the story branches. Every time you make a choice, you progress on it (also other things IIRC, but the choice is the most important one). There's a pattern to the progression and if you take notice of it, you'll be able to tell if you're on your way to the good or bad ending of the route. (Or you can just use the guide.) [*]So you got the password to access the Extra Gallery? Cool. You don't put it on the base game though, but on the Extra Gallery DLC. It's technically a different game. Different .exe and such. You need to open the game from inside Steam (as in, press that green PLAY button), or you won't get the choice to play the base game or the extra gallery. [/list] Bonus: Runs out of the box on Linux using Proton. Though it takes an unholy amount of time to start up for me, for some reasons.