Melancholy Love

AMAZING, I got a bit frustrated with the "skip" function not working too well, to get all the endings, but, it was worth the time, every single minute. Of course, I liked one ending better, but the voice acting, the music, the story, this is a true gem. Instantly one of my favourite Yuri VN

Really interesting story. Can't wait for the prequel!

Well written, but i do not agree with the narrative. One Protagonist (the bully) manipulates the other (the bullied) to be closer to her and to get her out of a school-political test situation. So far so good, the interaction and the inner thoughts are well written and belivebale. But then the second protagonists family joins in on the manipulation, completly misses that the first person used to be the others bully, helps gaslighting her for her own good and when she finds out doesnt even bother to tell her about the political situation, despite this beeing the reason they joined the manipulation in the first place. The bullied girl is beeing lied to, manipulated and used as a political pawn (wich she remains completly oblivious to) and in the good end all this is swept under the rug. In the bad end the protagonist is at fault for not telling her bully that she loved her fast enough, despite her bully telling her nothing important at all. Only in the "worst" ending does some callout happen, wich is why i dont see this as the worst ending. All in all well written, but excuses to much ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and shady behavior in the name of love.

This review contains spoilers. The story put me really off. It is full of lies, deceit, bullying and cruelty, and somehow, the victim of all of this is still falling in love with the offender? I don't buy it. To me, this is romanticising toxic behaviour. The web of lies the offender keeps weaving grows thicker and thicker, and she even envelops others in it who should be on the victim's side but somehow think "awww, the offender's just in love, that excuses everything," and the stuff the victim is wiling to believe and put up with is ridiculous. I would have loved a good enemies to lovers plot, but the victim apparently falls in love while the offender still has not done barely anything to come clean or better herself. It got to a point where I just couldn't see a way of the story redeeming itself, and I quit. I also would have been okay if the toxic stuff if the victim would have reacted accordingly in a consistent manner, called the abuser out on her ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and left her in the dust. I would have applauded her if she had deliberately bunked this "special exam" forced upon her and left the school, leaving her bully behind and, perhaps, sullying her cousin's reputation even though I liked her a lot until she, too, took place in this game of deceit. But what I got instead was the feeling that nobody really took the victim's side. I wanted to try a different route or have a look at the different endings, but even using the skip feature, the progression through the dialogue text and, even more so, these chapter cards or whatever they are (the ones that throw these quotes at you) is to unbearably slow that I couldn't be bothered. So at least for me the claim "A Romantic Yuri Story" is absolutely false. I rooted for the "big sister" cousin and the headmaster friend, but not for the actual couple. If I had played this sooner after buying, I would have definitely requested a refund.

I haven't finished it yet, so I can't speak about the ending but the bacground music is great and the writing is at times funny, which alone probably places this above most other [visual] novels. I feel that the characters might be too much self aware both for their age and especially in the moment. But perhaps that's just me and this much is normal.Since I can't speak any of the languages known as Chinese, I can't comment on the voice acting but it feels well done. My only gripe is that the main character's vocals might have too much of a dynamic range, which feels a bit jarring, as it might go from moderate to high volume mid-sentence. Likewise my other criticisms are mainly technicals such as fullscreen state for some reason not being remembered.Overall it's been a good experience so far and one that I'd want to give not just one but two thumbs up. Then again I'm more of an action game player that rolls their eyes when a "game" advertises more words than a multi-volume classic as somehow being a feature and not proof of its authors inability to edit and disregard for reader's time, so take this review as you may.

It has a very classical Yuri bent; a tender wistful romance, a chaste internal narration from both girls that is nonetheless full of longing, set in an all girls school dedicated to floriculture. Very flowery language too; the whole thing’s practically steeped in metaphor. There’s a very introspective bent to the whole thing too each chapter prefaced with solemn quotes and a lot of ruminating on love and one’s own feelings which contrasts with slice of life scenes which generally contain a media reference or two. A little like Flowers in that respect though that might just be because both works are drawing from the same well. There’s not really much to say about the plot, with it pretty much being a classic enemies to lovers story between the kindhearted soul who is mistaken as a delinquent due to her looks, Mianxue and the perfect class monitor with a bit of a sadistic side, who yearns for freedom, Qingwei. It does feel a little absurd how they constantly dance around each other and agonize internally rather than admit their feelings to each other, though at the same time that does seem to be the essence of a lot of love stories and from another angle there is a something utterly pure and sweet and romantic about it. One character definitely puts it best when calling them ‘good girls but both dummies’. This is the second part in the trilogy despite being localized first which is an odd choice but apart from a scene at the beginning and at the end, you wouldn’t really be able to tell there's a prequel. It’s a novelty in being an originally Chinese VN and voiced in mandarin as well. It’s nothing original and at it’s core it’s an unashamedly sappy romance (seriously the opening scene probably makes it into the top 10 sappiest things I’ve read) full of excessive amounts of angst and poetic metaphors and people who find it an almost insurmountable hurdle just to be honest about their feelings but despite that… maybe because of it, it’s an enchanting story and something I found utterly charming.

[h1] Chinese Citrus?[/h1] It was my first thought when I saw Melancholy Love for the first time. Truthfully, beginning of the game really reminds it (minus step-sisters plot that doesn't exist here). Gyaru-like girl is starting to getting closer to admired by everyone quiet beauty. Seems familiar, right? But this is where all similarities ends. I don't want to spoiler the story, so I won't give more details. Overall, I think that White Dew Games studio did a really good job with portraying slow-burn relationship between two girls. Sure, it's not the greatest story ever made, but it has some charm and sweetness in it. A big plus for great visuals. Nice backgrounds, amazing character sprites, great CGs. It's really hard to tell something bad about it. Another plus for voice acting. I'm used to japanese voices in VN (english in some rare situations), so this was something new for me. It was a little weird at first, but at the end I didn't mind it. Audio quality was good enough and most importantly - you could hear the emotions. Big boost for immersion. Definitely give it a chance. Must have for yuri fans, especially if you consider the low price and the high quality of the whole game. [i]Check my Curator's page for more reviews: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41437353-mnik%2527s-Experience/[/i]

Melancholy Love is breathtaking. The characters, not just Mianxue and Qianxun, helped create the most dramatic girls’ love story I’ve read in a while. The Chinese voice acting is superb, and the art is just as wonderful. The technical side, like the UI and accessibility options, might be a bit weak, but don’t let it discourage you. This entire series looks ever-so promising, and you should definitely check it out. [url=http://operationrainfall.com/2021/08/25/melancholy-love-review/]Read the full review over at Operation Rainfall![/url]

Nice little read of roughly 6-10 hours, depending on how fast you are and if you're getting all the endings. I generally enjoyed everything about this game. Good music, nice artwork, FINALLY another game with (good!) chinese VA and fun and interestingly written character dynamics (I love the banter between Yuxi and Mianxue <3). Another of my favourite parts is how we get to see the perspective of both the main characters in a tandem. Now, apart from all the things that aren't the main point of this, the plot was also pretty neat xD Is it the best thing I've ever read? No Is it a good read? Definitely. And I'm looking forward to playing the next game in the series! If you're a fan of the genre you should definitely give it a go, especially with that low price! Even more so if you're like me, and you're just living for that tragic pain lol

6/`10