i lived happily ever after with my ice cream truck husband. 5 stars
also nice music
august273
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A member registered Apr 10, 2020
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I'll firstly start off by saying that this is the first "visual novel" I have ever experienced. I downloaded it because I thought the art looked cool, and that it might be a fun and light-hearted experience. I finished the game in about two days, and I am absolutely floored. I have a lot to say. Let's get into it!
Immediately I was totally engrossed in the story and the world. The characters are all wonderfully unique, intruiging and entertaining, all with their own desires or interests that push the events of the story forward. The plot can at first seem generic, but never felt dull or predictable to me, and as the (game? novel?) progresses it becomes very clear that the plot is anything but generic. It never lost its ability to shock me, and while at very rare times the structure, and hence the pacing, seemed a bit awkward, it was never enough of an issue to really distract me from the events of the story.
The dialogue and writing was wonderfully entertaining and obviously so carefully constructed for each character, and had me equal parts laughing and crying throughout the experience. I was honestly incredibly impressed with the level of intelligence and understanding of writing that is displayed throughout this visual novel, and it kept me totally engaged and invested in the characters and story throughout.
The art and music was absolutely enchanting, coming from an artist and musican/composer. The drawings were such lively depictions, that always wonderfully encapsulated their character's personalities and emotions. The background art was gorgeous, and always lent a real sense of personality and atmosphere to the location, owing to the amount of detail and care that the artist obviously put into every piece. I must mention though, that at some locations such as the beach, it was quite clear that the background image was just a photo with a filter over it, which somewhat detracted from the immersion within scenes taking place here, but you spend so little time there that it's something you immediately forget about when you move to the next set piece.
The music was simple, but for what it is it's marvellous - it's not meant to be a Mozart Symphony, it's simply meant to set and complement the mood of the scene, which it always does perfectly. Every piece was unique and catchy and despite the game being somewhere around a few hours long, depending on how you play it, they never got dull or annoying for me. Personally, I loved the music, especially the main menu theme. Perhaps it's bias coming from being a classical pianist, but the sparse piano melodies drifting through the air perfectly matched the profound themes that the game explored.
Speaking of, let me say that for a game/visual novel described as a furry romantic novel, I was not expecting to be confronted with such profound, intricate and high-concept themes. The idea of our many different cultures on Earth existing because of various alien races touching down on our planet throughout history is such an intriguing concept, and one that is teased throughout the game. There are a few references to a character who was a tiger named "Meera", of a people called the Hindo - a nod obviously to the culture of Hindu here on earth, associated often with tigers - largely because of it's geographical context. It is also clear throughout your time on Adastra that there is a definite Roman influence in many aspects of their society, from their clothing to architecture, which is further praise to the level of thought and detail put into the art. And of course exploring concepts of a higher power, or powers, is represented in a way I had never considered or seen before, which on it's own is impressive.
Overall, this is a fantastic game, and thank you for reading if you made it this far. If all visual novels are this good, I probably have found a new favourite genre. Although I feel that more likely, this one has just set the bar unfairly high for any contenders that follow it.
My utmost praise to the developers, artists, writers and composers - my final score is 8.5/10.