I saw this game and enjoyed its premise, much more for the fact that it has +18 scenes, which are rare for Otomes (specially in English); so I was very excited to play it.
Since the game it's still in Beta version, my thoughts here reflect only the portion that I could play, which are Anja's Route and some Common Routes mostly.
I will list the factors that caught my attention about the game, including some opinions if necessary.
[b]Pros:[/b]
(+) The game has beautiful Art: sprites, CG's, backgrounds and etc.; it is very beautiful indeed, and they complement each other sweetly.
(+) The length of the game is very good, in my opinion. It's not a fast game, nor is it painful and tiring to read.
(+) The +18 scenes. Wow, just, wow. Steamy, hot. You'll trully have a good time. [i]*wink wink*[/i] ~ And the option to turn then on/off is a great addition too!
(+) The voice acting was a really good plus! For me, personally, it doesn't make much difference / it’s not really necessary in a game for it to be good or not. But I know that a lot of people care about that and it was very well played.
(+) The characters are interesting, for their personalities and their way of interacting with Mizari. I really liked the Demon King being somewhat a sweet person, and a character like Mimi isn't common either (It's the second time in a Otome game that I see something like this).
Obs. Talking about Mimi, I am very curious about how the +18 scenes will be approached too. I'm super excited to see [spoiler]how it'll be his interaction with Mizari, with him dressed as a woman, but being a man, if you know what I mean [i]*wink*[/i].[/spoiler]
Obs.2 Still talking about the characters, the game only has 3 love interests, which "technically" is more easy to "maintain" than a game who has 5, 8 love interests, per se. What makes the player expect a good development for them, their stories, personalities, etc. And this is worrying me a little, due to the endings (I'll talk more about it in the Cons below).
[b]Cons:[/b]
(-) For it's lenght, I felt as if the game lacked CG's until now. I'm not talking in a general way (since some routes aren't playable yet), but I'm talking about the Common Route and Anja's route. I felt like it could have had more CG's, specially due to the game's lenght. CG's are a breath of fresh air for all the reading, and it makes us (players) very immersed in the events that are taking place. I don't know if maybe I'm being unreasonable here, but this is the way I felt while playing.
(-) The endings and the loose ends. The ending (or post ending? I didn't know at the time, and I explain that in the 'lack of indications') for Anja's route ended so abruptly and whitout explanations that I really felt taken aback. What happend? What will happen? What's going on? And so on. The same goes for the loose ends: there's so many of them. I get it that some mysteries can be explored in the other routes, but when we are going for a character or another, at least some kind of completion to the story is necessary. When we play a game, we play as if we "weren't" going to play another route (not literally, but in a way of speaking). So, the routes need to follow a basic chronological order: beginning, middle and end.
[spoiler]What happened to Mizari friends? You don't see any more of them at all in the romance routes, what happened to them? You can grab some gossip here and there, a little interaction one of the common choices, but that's it. We could have some enlightment on their part, or some appearance. And Yuhata? He just escaped in the end? And what now? What about the war? What about the people who wants to bring peace to all the races? And the anti-demon group? I need so many answers. And Anja's route ended so abruptly... How did it ended like that, just like that, whithout any conclusion whatsoever? I don't even know if it was a ending, a post-ending or a epilogue of some sorts. I have no idea.[/spoiler]
(-) The lack of indications. The game doesn't give you any visual or verbal indication that you have reached one's ending. During the dialogue in Anja's route, you have no idea what his ending is (only the [spoiler]death endings[/spoiler] are make clear). I went to find out that I had reached the end of Anja's route when I just went to see the album and his ending was, like, there [i](??)[/i]. Just as the images of the characters appear when you enter someone's route, I think there could be some visual indication that you are entering the character ending, or the epilogue. Or anything at all; y'know, a verbal statement or the sorts. Anything that is easier for the understanding of who is reading/playing is really appreciated.
In the end, would I recommend this game? [b]Yes[/b].
Would I recommend it for its price the way it is NOW? [b]No[/b]. - It is in Beta after all! And this [b]DOESN'T[/b] mean that it can't/won't change in the future, when the game is much more polished and totally revised and completed.
When we are paying for something, we are putting our faith - and money - into it (even more when we have some wonderful games for a much lower price or even free). I know game development is very tiring and it's a lot of pressure and stress involved, but I hope the devs can take the criticism well to make a wonderful game for us!
