[img_inline align="center" caption="How can something be so painful in two entirely different ways?"]http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/6308/crescendogamecover.jpg[/img_inline]
Ryo Sasaki has just five days left until high school graduation, meaning he managed to successfully slack off just the right amount to where he won't be held back. Of course, even with a few make-up classes to sleep through, he has other things on his mind. After all, after graduation, there are a number of people he might not see again. Even aside from the possibility of Ryo moving out of his older sister's home, it means not seeing his fellow literature club members as much, no more coffee and napping in the school nurse's office, no more accidentally walking in on a vague acquaintance having sex with some guy for 5000 yen...
Okay, so maybe he wouldn't miss some of those things, but still. There just seems to be so many loose ends in these last few days left to him, an anxiety more than shared by his friends.
An anxiety, in fact, not limited to just his circle...
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Crescendo
Crescendo is one of more popular visual novels I've seen, and one I assumed was a fairly safe bet that I'd enjoy...and yet it provoked a profoundly mixed reaction from me. I honestly don't know what to think about it.
Well, anyway, let's get started.
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Gameplay
Crescendo is a visual novel. You read the story, and make occasional choices as they pop up. Said choices set you on a given character's path, determine the presence or order of events within that path, and lead ultimately to one of...some number of endings. It's probably twelve. I don't know for sure, I didn't bother getting them all.
Not much else to say besides that. I'd speculate about whether the game actually does away with relationship points entirely in favor of simply using event flags, but it probably doesn't matter all that much at the moment.
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Story
Crescendo is nominally told from the perspective of Ryo Sasaki, high school student, as he and his friends go through their last few days before three of them graduate. I say nominally because, rather unusually, this game is narrated entirely from third-person perspective. While the player only controls Ryo's actions and reactions, this does open up the viewpoints of other characters nicely. The other major storytelling convention is that much of the game is told in flashback, including many of the story-affecting choices. After all, from the player's perspective, Ryo and the others technically only have five days left until graduation, but he's actually had anywhere from one to four years of experience with everyone else. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are actually some alternate pathways to some of the characters' endings, depending on your choices (I actually found two very different ways to get to Kaho's good ending).
This doesn't happen in the boring path.
As for the story itself...well, I'll reuse the metaphor and say that there are two faces to this game.
On the one hand, as noted before, the major theme of the game is dealing with an impending major life transition (high school graduation, and the accompanying implications) and tying up loose ends left in one's memories and relationships. While the characters, and Ryo in particular, acknowledge that this far from the end of the world and life certainly goes on after high school, the circumstances will be new and unsettlingly unfamiliar. Even between former school friends, and especially between those who are leaving and those staying (employees and underclassmen), everything has the potential to change. A worthy theme, and one I found myself commiserating with quite a bit. If only the execution were good, it would have been perfect.
Well, okay, that might be a tad unfair. Thematic execution was only one of my problems, and my objections weren't constant between routes. For the most major problem...well, I'm not really sure if it's ironic or eminently appropriate for a game about running out of time, but Crescendo was far too short. In several ways, even. Each individual route was 2-3 hours shorter than a comparable one from most other visual novels I've played (everything but Little My Maid and Xchange, which were designed shorter for replayability). As a result, some of the routes felt paradoxically rushed; Kaho and Kyoko in particular get hit by this, since very little of consequence actually happens in their routes, meaning there's little incentive to become attached to them. This includes the flashbacks, sadly which might otherwise have provided some sort of meat to the stories beyond "this girl is attracted to Ryo, but likes the other girl too much to want to consider her a rival."
Interesting, but not all that filling.
The other routes manage to avoid the rushing perception, but only one of those managed to avoid any problems at all; I had no complaints about Kaori's route, which felt significant and developed, and really did drive home the point about only having one last chance. Ayame's route was pretty messed up, but that's for another section. And Yuka...oh Yuka.
Short summary: Yuka's route was almost the best in the game, with a genuinely tragic heroine, moving pathos, time enough to establish the significance of hers and Ryo's relationship, and an interesting dichotomy between her good and bad endings. The fact that that changed frankly enrages me. The following section is spoiler'd for being...well, a large spoiler, and for easy skipping.
You know, I can see why the writers included Yuka being gangraped near the end of her route. It was a plausible consequence for when she stops prostituting herself and is victimized by her former customers, it was a genuinely horrifying moment, and her reactions to it (refusing to call the police because she didn't want them finding out she was a prostitute, and suicidal depression) were believable and frightening. That Ryo helps turn this around was, at the time, the most moving moment in the game. And the day after the incident, during graduation, less than fifteen minutes later, the route ends. And the rapists?
Nothing.
No, worse than nothing. I could probably accept nothing; villains getting away with their crimes can be an acceptably dark twist. They're never even mentioned again. Granted, I made the mistake of assuming by the fact that they have faces and voices, and the main one appearing more than once, that they were characters rather than plot devices. Plot devices you can discard, without even considering that Ryo knows who the fuck they are (it's how he locates Yuka after the rape), and he's not the most forgiving bastard in the world when it comes to her well-being. Considering all that, the fact that the scene player stores the goddamn rape scene wasn't so much the straw breaking the camel's back as it was a spit in the face over the camel's shattered body. More than enough to make me think "wow, you know, it's only the next day. She got over the rape thing really fast," and watch my suspension of disbelief snap like a twig.
I agreed so much that I wrote out a litany of possible punishments during the incident.
It'd be hard to overstate just how cheated I felt. I mean, seriously, the near game-end sex scene, after the rape and Yuka's subsequent suicide attempt? It was amazingly-written. It didn't just erase my disquiet over having a consensual sex scene the same day as something so traumatizing, it was astoundingly uplifting in its own right. Hell, if the route had ended right there, it would have been a phenomenal conclusion.
But no...
Nothing.
No, worse than nothing. I could probably accept nothing; villains getting away with their crimes can be an acceptably dark twist. They're never even mentioned again. Granted, I made the mistake of assuming by the fact that they have faces and voices, and the main one appearing more than once, that they were characters rather than plot devices. Plot devices you can discard, without even considering that Ryo knows who the fuck they are (it's how he locates Yuka after the rape), and he's not the most forgiving bastard in the world when it comes to her well-being. Considering all that, the fact that the scene player stores the goddamn rape scene wasn't so much the straw breaking the camel's back as it was a spit in the face over the camel's shattered body. More than enough to make me think "wow, you know, it's only the next day. She got over the rape thing really fast," and watch my suspension of disbelief snap like a twig.
I agreed so much that I wrote out a litany of possible punishments during the incident.
It'd be hard to overstate just how cheated I felt. I mean, seriously, the near game-end sex scene, after the rape and Yuka's subsequent suicide attempt? It was amazingly-written. It didn't just erase my disquiet over having a consensual sex scene the same day as something so traumatizing, it was astoundingly uplifting in its own right. Hell, if the route had ended right there, it would have been a phenomenal conclusion.
But no...
So the story portion of the game was a large letdown. One route reaching passability, two being unmemorable, two actually pissing me off...
...and one exception.
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Characters
And this is the weird part: I liked these characters. Though they're all at varying levels of dysfunction, they're also all very sympathetic and well-written. I don't hold, say, Kyoko's painfully short and unmemorable story against her; she's still cute, her mannerisms and insecurities understandable and likable, and her status of being essentially locked outside her family was a moving element. Hell, it might just be because I'm a very, very sentimental man, but even while I was being underwhelmed, there were still emotional moments that I adored that popped up from time to time.
Lucky bastard.
Pretty much every character with a name is like that. Even the minor Tomonori gets a share of the spotlight during Kaho and Kyoko's routes. Hell, the only character who ever lost a share of my sympathy was Ryo himself, but that was during one route only, and I frankly blame the writers more than him.
...and, of course, there's the exception.
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Technical
I have to admit, while I really don't go for the whole "gothic shoujo" art style the game uses (I like my games more colorful, for one thing), it's still very well-drawn. And while I don't think the flashback storytelling lived up to its potential, the sepia tone motif used in those scenes kept them from feeling disorienting, and were rather pleasant to look at.
Actually, I really do like the warmer tone of the flashbacks better.
Soundwise...well, the voice acting was all right; I'd even go so far as to call it good, especially some of the more emotional lines from Ayame (one of two things I liked about her route). In fact, at one point I was seriously just listening to the characters talk without reading the lines, just for practice, so that might be considered an accidental benefit if you're a student of Japanese like me. I did find myself missing a feature I've seen in a few other games, the ability to actually re-listen (rather than just re-read) lines over, so I guess that speaks well for the acting, too.
And I do see what they were going for with the soundtrack. Rather unusually, Crescendo doesn't use its own music, but arrangements of early 20th century ragtime and impressionist pieces, with a particularly heavy emphasis on the piano. Another one of those things whose quality I can admit, but didn't resonate with me. About the only pieces that actually stuck with me are <url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwRY_3keV_U>Gladiolus Rag (as well as a pretty <url=http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBloodsoakedRaven#p/u/501/HmKEuBqFlL0>music box version) and <url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb412JXmi4I>The Entertainer, mainly because even from my musically-myopic perspective I recognized them immediately as Scott Joplin pieces.
...and, of course, I was given a very good reason to remember The Entertainer.
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Ero
Incest.
If you haven't refreshed the page to close this spoiler box already, I'll note that incest is a bizarrely popular subject in erotic literature, and probably reaches its height in hentai doujinshi. While I admit that the reason for this popularity escapes me, I'm not inherently repulsed by any-and-all such stories. For many of the aforementioned doujinshi, that's because there's basically no reason to have high standards; they're trash only good for a laugh. For stuff that's supposed to be good, there's a few hurdles that have to be overcome for plausibility.
The first is the physical hurdle. The physical process that actually guards against incest is usually known as the <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_%28psychology%29#Westermarck_effect>Westermarck Effect, the tendency for people who have been raised together in close proximity to not be sexually attracted to each other. There are oddball cases, of course, and there actually is a tendency for genetic relatives to be <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction>more attracted to each other (so yes, Luke/Leia would have been totally believable), but it's still there. This is the hurdle that personally bugs me the most, but stories like Princess Waltz (one example) and Tsukihime that can get around it are fine.
Then there's the cultural hurdle. Incest is taboo in quite a lot of the world, and even without the physical revulsion, we're taught that blood relatives are off-limits. It's a tiny bit easier for me to suspend disbelief in this case's absence, but the conflict between that cultural programming and physical attraction is part of what made Kana: Little Sister so effective.
And there's the legal hurdle. Actually, the most significant part of this is why cousin romance is a fairly common subject in eroge. First-cousin intermarriage is legal in Japan...in most of the world, actually, if I remember right (including a handful or more U.S. states). It's not particularly common, but it's legal. Siblings, on the other hand, cannot marry anywhere that I know of. This is the easiest hurdle to ignore, but it's another point for believability if it's addressed, as in Kana: Little Sister or a certain piece of Tsukihime side material.
And no, the "adopted sibling" cop-out doesn't inherently counter any of those, despite being popularly used to do so. It can be used to believable effect, certainly, but adopted siblings banging each other is still incestuous on its own.
If you haven't refreshed the page to close this spoiler box already, I'll note that incest is a bizarrely popular subject in erotic literature, and probably reaches its height in hentai doujinshi. While I admit that the reason for this popularity escapes me, I'm not inherently repulsed by any-and-all such stories. For many of the aforementioned doujinshi, that's because there's basically no reason to have high standards; they're trash only good for a laugh. For stuff that's supposed to be good, there's a few hurdles that have to be overcome for plausibility.
The first is the physical hurdle. The physical process that actually guards against incest is usually known as the <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_%28psychology%29#Westermarck_effect>Westermarck Effect, the tendency for people who have been raised together in close proximity to not be sexually attracted to each other. There are oddball cases, of course, and there actually is a tendency for genetic relatives to be <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction>more attracted to each other (so yes, Luke/Leia would have been totally believable), but it's still there. This is the hurdle that personally bugs me the most, but stories like Princess Waltz (one example) and Tsukihime that can get around it are fine.
Then there's the cultural hurdle. Incest is taboo in quite a lot of the world, and even without the physical revulsion, we're taught that blood relatives are off-limits. It's a tiny bit easier for me to suspend disbelief in this case's absence, but the conflict between that cultural programming and physical attraction is part of what made Kana: Little Sister so effective.
And there's the legal hurdle. Actually, the most significant part of this is why cousin romance is a fairly common subject in eroge. First-cousin intermarriage is legal in Japan...in most of the world, actually, if I remember right (including a handful or more U.S. states). It's not particularly common, but it's legal. Siblings, on the other hand, cannot marry anywhere that I know of. This is the easiest hurdle to ignore, but it's another point for believability if it's addressed, as in Kana: Little Sister or a certain piece of Tsukihime side material.
And no, the "adopted sibling" cop-out doesn't inherently counter any of those, despite being popularly used to do so. It can be used to believable effect, certainly, but adopted siblings banging each other is still incestuous on its own.
I bring this up is because Ayame's route is a total plausibility failure, incest-wise. That, and the fact that the game requires you, the player, to actually choose to follow through with a rape if you want the good ending, are the reasons the route pisses me off almost as much as Yuka's. It sucks, because that route actually did have an interesting conflict with the possibility of Ryo leaving his adopted older sister to live with his biological mother, and yet I found myself pining for the "bad" ending just to remove the relationship implications.
Anyway, the sex in Crescendo is, with a few exceptions, nothing special. The fact that the game allows you to replay any of the sex scenes is a bizarre option, though. A Drug That Makes You Dream has a similar option, but with the more sensible extension of letting the player play <url=http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/179/ymk7.jpg>many story-important scenes, not just H-scenes. In Crescendo's case, this had the unfortunate effect of reminding me that, yes, there are two rape scenes in the game.
Those two are mildly balanced out by two others, admittedly. One of which is Yuka's...
Seriously, this scene would have been a wonderful game ending.
...the other is the exception's.
<color=aliceblue>Line break.
Verdict
To get it out of the way, this game was a massive disappointment. I could still probably sum up my problems as the game being "too short;" too short to make Kyoko feel like more than a sympathetic supporting character, too short to make Kaho feel memorable, too short to give Yuka a satisfying ending, etc. And yet, I really don't know if I'd go so far as to not recommend playing it, partly because some of my complaints are based on taste and partly because the game does do quite a few things right, both things which garner this game a fairly significant fanbase. Not as much as Kana: Little Sister (the company's earlier game, with a different writer), perhaps, but that game's described by portions of the fanbase as halfway to a religious experience, so that's not really a fair comparison...and considering how strongly I reacted to an extended Kana shoutout in this game (during Kaori's route), I'm closer to that camp than I'd care to admit.
Not the only one, either.
Where was I?
Oh, right. If you've been following my reviews, you might remember my insisting that despite their subject matter, games like Kana: Little Sister and A Drug That Makes You Dream were very emotionally varied, and far from being angst-fests. That caveat does not apply here. If your angst tolerance is low, this is not your game; hell, mine's fairly high (shoujo manga lover, after all), and I felt like I was drowning at times. Technically, I guess I didn't actually finish this game, if you consider 100% completion to be finishing. I didn't see some of the bad endings, and by the extras, it seems I'm missing two sex scenes. I'm also not interested in finding them, because I found Crescendo to be a such a large letdown...
<color=aliceblue>Please forget about me, Ryo...
Verdict 2
...with a single, anomalous, shining moment of perfection.
Finishing the five main routes (good endings) in the game unlocks a secret, sixth path. It's the shortest in the game, but that doesn't work against it. Miyu's route is very well-written. It involves a heroine I found intensely sympathetic. It actually calls back to the game soundtrack. It feels oddly disconnected from the rest of the game. And it's touching beyond words.
I cannot overstate that. I know I'm a sentimental man to begin with, but just remembering it still has an effect on me, to say nothing of how I reacted when I finished the route (and the night after, for that matter). It was everything I'd been hoping for in the rest of the game, and it was the first time I can recall wanting to meet someone (in this case, the scenario writer) and kick them them in the balls as a sincere compliment.
It's the one real thing keeping me from being disappointed that I played this game.
____________________________
Next Review
I'm working on that Princess Waltz review. I'll probably get a Fate/Stay Night adaptation review out after that, while I work on playing Family Project.
____________________
TYPE-MOON reviews:
___________________
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.128851-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Tsukihime>Tsukihime
--- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.142352-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Shingetsutan-Tsukihime-anime>Shingetsutan Tsukihime (anime)
--- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145022-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Lunar-Legend-Tsukihime-manga>Lunar Legend Tsukihime (manga)
- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139628-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Kagetsu-Tohya>Kagetsu Tohya
- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.230960-TYPE-MOON-Reviews-Melty-Blood>Melty Blood
--- Re-Act/Act Cadenza
--- Actress Again
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.223721-TYPE-MOON-Review-anniversary-Fate-Stay-Night>Fate/Stay Night
--- Fate/Stay Night (anime)
----- Unlimited Blade Works
--- Fate/Stay Night (manga)
- Fate/Unlimited Codes
- Fate/Zero
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.304952-TYPE-MOON-Review-Anniversary-Kara-no-Kyoukai>Kara no Kyokai
Speculative: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, Fate/Extra, Notes, DDD.
___________________________________
Neutral Drow reviews:
___________________________________
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.130703-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Xchange>Xchange
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672-Neutral-Drow-reviews-A-Drug-That-Makes-You-Dream>A Drug That Makes You Dream
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146260-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Heart-de-Roommate>Heart de Roommate
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.163769-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Kanon>Kanon
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148564-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Little-My-Maid>Little My Maid
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.206764-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Kana-Little-Sister>Kana: Little Sister
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.252998-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Princess-Waltz>Princess Waltz
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.237875-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Crescendo>Crescendo
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.308335-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Symphonic-Rain>Symphonic Rain
Hourglass of Summer
Tokimeki Check-in
Casual Romance Club
True Love
Clannad
Family Project
Snow Sakura
The Sagara Family
Snow Drop
Brave Soul
Doushin - Same Heart
Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo
Da Capo
Da Capo II
Kira Kira
Speculative: Air, Galaxy Angel, Yu-No, Sumaga, Suika, Shimai Donburi, 11eyes, Ashita no Kimi to Au Tami ni
___________________________________
Kinetic reviews:
___________________________________
Narcissu
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
True Remembrance
Leaves
The Dandelion Girl
Tokoyo no Hoshizora
___________________________________
Off-Topic reviews:
___________________________________
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.151706-Lightning-Warrior-Raidy-a-Lordlee-and-Neutral-Drow-review>Lightning Warrior Raidy (collab. w/Lordlee)
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158447-Off-Topic-Reviews-Devil-May-Cry-series>Devil May Cry series
- Devil May Cry 4 addendum
- DMC addendum
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.178061-Off-Topic-Reviews-Soulbringer>Soulbringer
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.194259-Off-Topic-Reviews-Ragnarok>Ragnarok
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.272426-Off-Topic-Reviews-Suguri>Suguri
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.385549-Off-Topic-Reviews-Ristar>Ristar
????
????
TYPE-MOON reviews:
___________________
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.128851-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Tsukihime>Tsukihime
--- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.142352-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Shingetsutan-Tsukihime-anime>Shingetsutan Tsukihime (anime)
--- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145022-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Lunar-Legend-Tsukihime-manga>Lunar Legend Tsukihime (manga)
- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139628-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Kagetsu-Tohya>Kagetsu Tohya
- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.230960-TYPE-MOON-Reviews-Melty-Blood>Melty Blood
--- Re-Act/Act Cadenza
--- Actress Again
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.223721-TYPE-MOON-Review-anniversary-Fate-Stay-Night>Fate/Stay Night
--- Fate/Stay Night (anime)
----- Unlimited Blade Works
--- Fate/Stay Night (manga)
- Fate/Unlimited Codes
- Fate/Zero
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.304952-TYPE-MOON-Review-Anniversary-Kara-no-Kyoukai>Kara no Kyokai
Speculative: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, Fate/Extra, Notes, DDD.
___________________________________
Neutral Drow reviews:
___________________________________
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.130703-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Xchange>Xchange
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672-Neutral-Drow-reviews-A-Drug-That-Makes-You-Dream>A Drug That Makes You Dream
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146260-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Heart-de-Roommate>Heart de Roommate
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.163769-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Kanon>Kanon
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148564-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Little-My-Maid>Little My Maid
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.206764-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Kana-Little-Sister>Kana: Little Sister
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.252998-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Princess-Waltz>Princess Waltz
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.237875-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Crescendo>Crescendo
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.308335-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Symphonic-Rain>Symphonic Rain
Hourglass of Summer
Tokimeki Check-in
Casual Romance Club
True Love
Clannad
Family Project
Snow Sakura
The Sagara Family
Snow Drop
Brave Soul
Doushin - Same Heart
Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo
Da Capo
Da Capo II
Kira Kira
Yo-Jin-Bo
Sekien no Inganock
Wanko to Kuroso
My Girlfriend is the President
Sharin no Kuni
Cross Channel
Wind: A Breath of Heart
Brass Restoration
Ever17
Remember11
Ori Ochi Onoe
Shuffle
One
G-Senjou no Maou
Gadget Trail
Swan Song
Eien no Aselia
Phantom of Inferno
Kikokugai
River Trap
Autumn
Sengoku Rance
Daibanchou
ef
Neko Kawaigari
Adam: The Double Factor
Edelweiss
AoiShiro
Sekien no Inganock
Wanko to Kuroso
My Girlfriend is the President
Sharin no Kuni
Cross Channel
Wind: A Breath of Heart
Brass Restoration
Ever17
Remember11
Ori Ochi Onoe
Shuffle
One
G-Senjou no Maou
Gadget Trail
Swan Song
Eien no Aselia
Phantom of Inferno
Kikokugai
River Trap
Autumn
Sengoku Rance
Daibanchou
ef
Neko Kawaigari
Adam: The Double Factor
Edelweiss
AoiShiro
Speculative: Air, Galaxy Angel, Yu-No, Sumaga, Suika, Shimai Donburi, 11eyes, Ashita no Kimi to Au Tami ni
___________________________________
Kinetic reviews:
___________________________________
Narcissu
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
True Remembrance
Leaves
The Dandelion Girl
Tokoyo no Hoshizora
___________________________________
Off-Topic reviews:
___________________________________
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.151706-Lightning-Warrior-Raidy-a-Lordlee-and-Neutral-Drow-review>Lightning Warrior Raidy (collab. w/Lordlee)
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158447-Off-Topic-Reviews-Devil-May-Cry-series>Devil May Cry series
- Devil May Cry 4 addendum
- DMC addendum
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.178061-Off-Topic-Reviews-Soulbringer>Soulbringer
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.194259-Off-Topic-Reviews-Ragnarok>Ragnarok
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.272426-Off-Topic-Reviews-Suguri>Suguri
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.385549-Off-Topic-Reviews-Ristar>Ristar
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