The Grand Ball

Ugh so close. I would say my percent for giving this a thumbs down is 49/51% I may revisit it at a later date and change it to a thumbs up but for today I was too disappointed in the things I wanted in this game. Art: Even before I bought the game I had a problem with the art style. The colors look too faded and the character designs felt a bit either plain or pale. Look at the chests of each character and point out a design that you like that differentiates themselves from what you would picture a generic version of this game to be. Choices: So what I will say is probably my favorite part of visual novels is the choices, but what I will criticize about the genre as a whole is that when you are presented the choices you are rarely given the context if you auto skipped the text up to this point. I know that these games try to drag out the length by writing longer text boxes but I feel it's to the detriment of the genre instead of the benefit. I'm a 'brevity is the soul of wit' kind of guy. It's fine if one character is very verbose and goes on great diatribes of explanation but when ever character does it, then it begins to feel like bad writing. And that's a problem because I know the people who write these games aren't bad writers, it's just that the shorter the exposition, the shorter the game, or they could try to add in more choices but then that either forces them to add in false choices or program for more choices. I sympathize with the developers on this issue but when characters drag on, my score drags down. Conclusion: If you buy this game, I don't think you will be disappointed it but if you are a clone of me, you will be disappointed. What was I hoping for from this game? I was hoping for a visual novel version of Crusader Kings 2 set in Imperial England, this is more average visual novel with meaningful choices.

[h1]Prelude & Review Information[/h1] [b]Be advised[/b], this review contains [b]spoilers[/b] for the game that [b]won't be censored.[/b] Beyond that, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed [i]The Grand Ball[/i]. However, there's one thing that makes me unbelievably bias. No, it isn't that I received it for free, [spoiler]I'll chew a game out regardless[/spoiler] rather the setting. Victorian England is a personal favorite of mine and as such I enjoyed the game more than the average person would. Couple the short playtime and $4.99 price point, if you aren't a fan of the immediate atmosphere the Store Page gives off, I'd advise against buying it. [b]Otherwise[/b], I earnestly urge you to pick it up when you can spare the money. [h1] [b]Now The Real Review Begins[/b] [/h1] Visual Novels can really be surmised in three categories: the UI, the story, and the music. If all three work in tandem well enough, they orchestrate a beautiful symphony. [h1]UI[/h1] The UI as a whole is very shaky, especially at first. It does fit the game with a standard regal portrait border around the dialogue box. That said, it just isn't clean. The title UI also mimics this with buttons looking extremely generic. This is to the point that it looks like it came as a preset for whichever program aided in the creation of this VN. Even the background used for the setting window, the same as the load/save window, is out of place in my mind. The save/load UI is quite nice though, appearance aside. It provides the time when you saved, the line you saved on, and the date (but I doubt you'll need that last one). Nothing too avant garde and for some reason the game can stutter slightly when going into this menu, but overall not bad. [h1]Story[/h1] As is constantly repeated, the characters and their values represent historically accurate mindsets for the time. Starting with Edgar and his mindset of marrying someone to get out of debt, I was really ashamed. Marriage only for the sake of wealth doesn't mesh with me at all. This is why I'm also thankful that this only happens in technically one route [spoiler]Looking at you Duchess Margaret[/spoiler] but even then, I'm certain that both parties were happy with their arrangement and ultimately fell upon a happy end. Christine took me by storm the first time playing. She's cute, innocent, and the concept of love at first sight which she holds strums the strings of my heart. Even in a fictional world, to hear such a thing happen is beautiful. Her witty banter is a joy also. Eliza however was also very likable. Her straightforward attitude was nice and the fact the she pulls you in for the kiss first while on the balcony together is amazing to me. Even such a small detail gives off to me the strength and independence of her character. If Christine weren't so cute as well as whom I went with on my first time playing, Eliza would be my favorite. Margaret was very interesting as well as I touched on a bit earlier. Edgar and her really use each other [spoiler]40? She's beautiful![/spoiler] which is a very unique option I didn't consider until the path was presented, bravo. A bit sad we couldn't date Samuel but it's understandable. The same goes for Amelia. [spoiler]That butler is a loyal and lucky man.[/spoiler] I also like how you can play the route of naivety and innocence to the point of not picking anyone. In the end, you just cannot choose or bring yourself to act and you shake hands with [spoiler]Alfred[/spoiler] Jameson. The character fully admits that he is too naive but even this isn't a complete bad end the the game gives the hope of attending another ball. [h1]Music[/h1] The music is nice actually. Nothing standout but the violins and pianos fit the classic theme. Once again I fall into bias but I can't help but feel enamored at the sound. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] Yes, yes I admit that I love this game. Of course the price seems a bit high but I enjoyed it. Alas, I admit that much and I cannot deny it. Romanticized ideas of royalty, balls, and romance itself. I cannot help but bathe in what it is. Once I immersed myself in the dialogue and took in the personal lines each character said, it felt alive. The UI, art, it melted away into something and all I could see was my inner thoughts illustrating the characters again as if everything became full of life. Time and time again, I was whisked away to this regal ball, this elegant ball, this grand ball.

少女好漂亮啊，有两张图不错收走了，注意选项出来时不能保存，有几段背景音乐让偶想到了鹿鼎记Ⅱ里雅萨克城里的配乐，节奏感很强。

3 out of 5 stars EDIT : [2017DEC07] I finally completed the game! With the help of a walkthrough because I kept dying in the Manhunt achievement for some reason :/ it was cute how the girls had a fairytale dream of relationships. EDIT : [2017DEC01] Ohkay my mistake, the game itself wasn't horrible, but I'm not really good with my history of the Victorian era. That's why I had difficulty choosing between choices. I couldn't be anymore interested in this particular kind of visual novel. [h1](´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡ -- What I Loved Best[/h1] - The character design and clothing matched the era of the visual novel - The language was thoughtfully studied [h1]٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶ -- What Was Ohkay[/h1] - The music choosing - The backgrounds beautifull represented the era - Character development is very slow and sometimes too fast - I fooled around with the duchess [h1](⇀‸↼‶) -- What Could've Been Better[/h1] - I had no engagement between what the characters were talking about - I WANTED TO GET WITH THE MAIN GIRL!? I already forgot her name, but she wasn't one of the love choices Overall, I didn't really like this visual novel as to I have never finished it. Maybe it would be your cup of tea

The soundtrack is okay. The art is okay. The writing is usually okay, although the romance aspects are often rushed and corny. There are plenty of choices throughout the novel, although some have no meaning and others are typically misleading. A single playthrough without a premature game over will typically take about 35-60 minutes, depending on how fast you read. For a $5 game that isn't a particularly good value. That said, it was interesting enough to play through more than once to see other aspects of your choices. Sadly, many of those choices are irrelevant. Overall, not a completely terrible experience, but not a particularly memorable one either. Not a great value, even for $5. Pass.

I finally won the DLC on SteamGifts, so this has been the input to write a review for this little visual novel too - I saw that it has few reviews, so maybe it can be helpful since it's the only thing I want to do with my reviews for every other gamer out there :) By the way, the DLC consists of the whole soundtrack of the game, 12 tracks overall; of course it isn't worthy the 2€/$ but you can add it to your wishlist and I really enjoyed the music of the game, even outside it! They're all songs composed for this game and they're into a classical/orchestral style, plus you'll also get the director's commentary and the behind the scenes of this indie visual novel, which can also be bough as a deluxe edition with everything inside :) Back to the game, it will take you definitely some hours to get all the endings and such - it's not a kinetic novel, and it will require many choices.. and lots of reading! :) The text is always brilliant and without any error, I really found it super enjoyable and awesome to read through.. of course it can always be the same if you play a visual novel in the developer's native tongue(s), but since I'm not really great when it comes to foreign languages I tend to play everything in English and some novels unfortunately suffer of many translation problems. This one, instead, is available only in English (no language choices at all) and it's really great as it is! The graphics too are definitely enjoyable; maybe both backgrounds and characters could have been drawn a little better but there are no major flaws - the characters are drawn in an usual Japanese style and I think that everything fits the game, whose main point is of course the plot! The game is set in Victorian England and you're gonna play as Edgar (some Final Fantasy reference? mmh xD), a young man from an English noble family whose fortune are declining - so, as heir apparent to his house (the Blakely family), you get invited at the Grand Ball that gives the name to this game.. this could be a great opportunity to save the Blakely's fortunes, or this could be Edgar's chance to find his true love in the Camberwell's most beautiful offshoot, lady Amelia, from the family that has been organizing the ball.. or.. could you get some bad endings instead? :) It will be an amazing story, torn between many negative endings of your character and your family or many positive ones, for what concerns love and wealth.. by the way, there's no sexual content so I don't know why this game has been flagged as inappropriate? It's definitely "SFW" XD So.. with a total of almost ten different endings, you'll have lots of lines of text to explore and in my opinion it's really a great story, intriguing.. the financial situation of your family, the usual love interest but set in a historical past made up by the greatest European nobility.. you'll find yourself definitely absorbed by the narration, extremely fit into a Victorian scheme! Unfortunately (not for the backgrounds, but for the characters) there are no gallery options, but you'll have all your time needed to read through the text and see all the girls, the various characters and their sprites. The backgrounds as I said aren't extremely great but really, no problems at all when you get into the game's mechanics :) There will also be some funny moments, and this visual novel shines definitely in the narrative compartment - it's really written like a book set in the XIX Century, and it really feels relaxing (thanks to the background music, so get the DLC if you like it!) and entertaining! It's not a difficult visual novel, the choices are coherent with the narration and the dialogues and of course it won't keep you here for days, but it's an awesome one in its genre and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who loves visual novels of every style. And don't mind the "sexual content" tag that appears in the main page - there's really no nudity or anything else, so I don't know why it's there.. it's really safe and relaxing, extremely well-put in its historical setting, with no inappropriate things at all! Have fun!! :)

1882年のイギリスのお話です。 まず簡単に言うと 逆玉を目指す短いノベルゲーです。 英語は簡単、ゲーム性はほぼないです。 マルチエンドで、 内容は好みもありますが、普通だと思います。 ただ、すごい短いです。 3時間で実績もすべて埋まりました。 あとは気になる人は下も読んで下さい。 ヴィクトリア女王のもと 大英帝国は最盛期ですが、 労働者や商人が力を持ち、 一部の貴族には厳しい時代です。 ちょうどホームズの時代ですね。 家の貿易船が難破し 破産寸前の貴族の青年が主人公です。 父親の代わりに舞踏会に出席し 逆玉で家を救うのが目的です。 選択肢で、相手や結果が変わります。 特に好感度やイベントフラグはなく、 単なるノベルゲーです。 ただ選択肢を間違えるとゲームオーバーになります。 いつでもセーブ出来るので安心です。 スキップないけど、早送りもあるので やり直しも苦痛ではないです。 だいたい2−3時間で1周、 攻略の相手は複数人います。 英語は難しくないけど、 とても丁寧で大げさな感じの貴族風です。 選択肢も多くはないので、 実績もすぐに埋まりました。 3−4時間ですべて終わります。 全体的に楽しめました。 ゲーム性は低いので 短いドラマを読みたい人や英語の勉強したい人向けです。 ぜひ逆玉を目指しましょう(^^)

I feel like I enjoyed this more than I should have. I don't understand. It was amazing. There's just a certain je ne sais quoi here. I'm not familiar enough with Victorian settings to vouch for historical accuracy here but I enjoyed the atmosphere as a whole. The characters look a tad pale, especially when put into those exquisite rooms, buuut I'm not saying that's bad by any means. There are several endings to be had, from love to death to the absurd to the hilarious [spoiler]Damn you, Samuel! I've been had! *shakes fist*[/spoiler]. It does feel a bit like a Choose Your Own Adventure book alright. You got it all. Certain cougars, lovely ladies, gay guys, political people, murderous men... I'm rarely sure about whether a game's price is justified but there's definitely a lot of entertainment value here. (It just goes by so fast when you're a fast reader, eh?) I'm still not sure why there's a 'sexual content' tag on this one since it's pretty tame. It's either subtle about the direction it would eventually head (as in implied consequences you don't really get to witness) or stops right before the action. So if that tag keeps you away from games, don't worry, it's really not there. But then that applies to a lot of games tagged as VNs. I'm still trying to figure out what Steam means exactly with this tag XD

1882, Anglia. Ojciec Edgara niespodziewanie odziedziczył tytuł po bracie (jej!) i przewalił rodzinny majątek na słabym interesie (oj!). Edgar bierze sytuację na klatę - poświęci się i zastąpi swojego starego na uroczystym balu, na którym może uda wyrwać się pannę z zasobnym portfelem. Lakierki włóż, na bal - marsz! Co jest HOT: + unikalna możliwość doświadczenia nudnej imprezy z czterema osobami na krzyż pełnej pitu-pitu o niczym; + zdumiewająco wiele okazji do zejścia z tego świata! Kamizelki kuloodporne powinny być balowym krzykiem mody; + sarkastyczny lokaj to motyw, który trudno zepsuć; + księżna najbardziej wiarygodną opcją, zawsze to jakaś wisienka na niedopieczonym torcie. A co NOT: - mangowe ryjki na takim se poziomie, brzydkie tła też nie pomagają; - nudno, jest po prostu nudno! Strasznie słaba impreza, poza dwoma-trzema zwrotami w tonie "lol" trudno tu o jakiekolwiek emocje; - mało czasu i okazji do poznania postaci; - romanse są błyskawiczne i chcę wierzyć, że te rozćwierkane trele na balkonach są podyktowane cynizmem głównego bohatera przypartego przez biedę do muru, ale wszystko wskazuje na to, że to jest 100% serio...; - zbyt wiele momentów, które urywają zawieszenie niewiary: oficer informujący o przestępstwie seksualnym damę na poziomie "X mało co nie dobrał się do parówki Y", orkiestra rozkładająca się w środku imprezy, całowanie ledwo co poznanych panien (s-s-skandal!!!), mnóstwo grubiańskich uwag prosto z mostu... - brak takich standardowych opcji dla visual novel jak rejestr wypowiedzi, przewijanie już przeczytanych dialogów czy zatrzymanie "skip"owania po wyborze. Wyzłośliwiam się, ale naprawdę jest mi szkoda - historyczne visual novel skupiające się na salonowych manewrach starające się odmalowywać poglądy tamtej epoki wbrew komfortowi współczesnego gracza brzmi świetnie. Niestety, "The Grand Ball" nie staje na wysokości zadania. To nie tak, że riserczu w ogóle nie było, ale informacje zostają wplecione w nienaturalny sposób ("Jak zapewne wiesz, ale i tak ci powiem, jakbym czytała encyklopedyczną notatkę..."), wiele dialogów brzmi zbyt obcesowo jak na wymuskane salony, a suflerskie przypisy (np. przeliczające podane kwoty albo informujące o podejściu do homoseksualizmu) wybijają z rytmu. Miał być wielki bal, wyszła potańcówka, na której prawie wszyscy podpierają ściany.

I honestly think that this game is not worth buying and should be for free. I have played many other VN games for free that are much more worthy to be sold online.