This is the revised review following the new update that fixes the vague dialogue choices. I am changing the review from the soft no to a soft yes instead. The biggest question most people ask: Is it worth the full price? No. Wait for discount. Did I apply the uncensor patch and how is it? No, I forgot. I typically fast forward through those anyway. [i]Yes I am very weird.[/i] My play time was a bit inflated because I did open the game to double check some things as I wrote the review. Your typical end can be easily gotten in under 2 hours if you are a fast reader and not distracted. Bonus ending(s) and subsequent playthrough shouldn't be adding too much to that if you skip stuff you've already read.
So some positive callouts I do need to address for this game. I really appreciate the developer providing a quick fix for the complaints in the earlier review. The game flow is much better now that I have an idea of what might be said. I noticed there are actually some minor follow ups to an earlier choice in the game. (Hazel apologizing for a joke in poor taste few scenes later, the game remembers Hazel was put into the hole...) It's minor, but I do like it when writer remembers small things like this.
Now actual plot stuff: I completed all the routes, obtained all normal and good ends. Plot is ok, though it got really muddy in Tori's route. Sasha's good ending gives IMO, the best resolution for everyone involved. Tori normal and good end progressions are... We can just leave it as... [i]Ugh...[/i]
You can just skip the rest if you are not interested in seeing me nitpicking plot. There will be minor spoilers not tagged, and heavy spoilers spoiler tagged.
Tori's route though... It's a mess. It can best be described as "love makes people very, very stupid." It is a hard one to get into, either emotionally or plot reason. The more interesting, meaty parts of her backstory isn't revealed until after you are hard locked into her route or find out parts of it in Sasha's route. Though there's the unfortunate side effect of her coming off as a headstrong moron on Sasha's route. Sasha has the 'lucky' part of being Hazel's cell mate so there are all these opportunities to develop them. Whereas it's literally only interrogation time do Hazel have the opportunity to... I guess seduce Tori to... get in her pants...? Meeting and getting brownie points with Sasha is very organic: Hazel wake up in cell, be nice to Sasha and viola. The first time Hazel meets Tori is after [spoiler]the dead guard incident,[/spoiler] another opportunity to get on Tori's good side immediately is to... Flirt. Right after a high tension moment. The progression is weird. I am not completely convinced in how this can work. To raise her affection Hazel needs to flirt aggressively, because holy order knights are probably ill prepared for flirtatious little vixens. Ok, sounds fine on paper but the execution needs finetuning. All the more intense ups and downs also don't occur until AFTER you picked Tori in the Trust X route split. Why put all this interesting stuff this past the point of no return? More conflicts could've been introduced at an earlier stage than waiting this long to happen. Hazel could've prodded Tori more aggressively either in her forceful approach or seduce more information out of Tori. Heck, the [spoiler]witch's bane[/spoiler] thing could've easily been dropped by the mooks sooner to give Tori more buildup other than 'a muscular holy order knight' here to interrogate Hazel. To provide a bigger incentive for Hazel to be more weary of Tori and for the player to develop an interest in her. Because for me personally, I didn't have a good impression of Tori whatsoever to want to pursue her route after Sasha's normal end, where she turned out to be past the point of redeemable. And then there's Hazel's motivation in Tori's route.
In order for their relationship to progress to that level: she needs to flirt aggressively with the person who might very well be her executioner. Just plain ol' sexual advances with no other thought process that might involve finding out where she is, how to escape from prison, etc. Sure Tori's quite the eye candy, but given the dire situations there really ought to be more. Hazel's involvement feels very passive. Almost content to just stay in this miserable prison to spend time with Tori. Interrogation room became the prime make out spot. The deeper I progressed in Tori's route the more I find Hazel is unnaturally fixated on making their love work. Tori almost felt like the sensible one here, because initially she wants to pull away because their love was a bad idea. Hazel's the one who automatically pushed hard for this love to work. Where is your baseless confidence/security coming from Hazel? You are still a prisoner with zero inkling on how to escape. Even after the big bombshell regarding [spoiler]the witch's bane[/spoiler] was dropped, Hazel's rebound was lightning fast. 'Imma just gonna wing it' Tori end also was... There is a time and place for everything. x1 There is a time and place for everything x2 Do you really have time for lewds right now?!
On Sasha's route, both Sasha and Hazel actively plan together for an escape.
Sasha's bonus end was a satisfying conclusion. It made sense. Tori's... You really do have more muscles than brain. Sasha's route felt more impactful for me because mid route there's a story involving Hefar and her dying message. There was weight to it. On Sasha's bonus end it kind of calls back to that moment so the plot bit involving the vampire is fully resolved for real. That's satisfying! Whereas in Tori's it was hastily wrapped up because oops [spoiler]Hazel accidentally got stabbed and bashed to death,[/spoiler] let's use that emotional rollercoaster to wrap that dangling thread. Not bueno.
BTW, [spoiler]what's Toki from Fist of the North Star doing here?[/spoiler]
