When The Angels Are Away

It's not that time of the year yet. The lack of posts on this blog is really disheartening, and I would certainly hope that this won't end up as the first and the last post of this month. In a way, the month is just beginning.

Did someone order a shinigami?

死神のテスタメント - Meunet of Epistula is one of those games that starts out rather poorly and despite some faint hints of improvements, never really gets any better. I decided to read it on a whim after seeing it among last month's releases, mostly because I didn't think I was ready for グリザイアの迷宮 yet. I can't say that I'm disappointed since I went in with no expectations, but the game still left a sour taste in my mouth.

At least I found a new wallpaper

I wanted to like it because I do have a soft spot for Vivi and Irina, too bad the latter's route was quite bad (not that Vivi's was much better). The problem was that each route is made into a chapter, or in some cases, a "broken" chapter (for heroines who don't have much impact on the main storyline) and thanks to the tired gimmick that is repeating timelines, the routes felt really anticlimactic. An uninspiring protagonist with a weak supporting cast is pretty disastrous for almost any story, and I think that is another problem with the game. The side characters really had no reason to exist other than being mere plot devices; some of their actions are also illogical and have next to no effect on the plot. I seriously wonder what the writers wanted me to feel when Himeno, who had already been established as quite indecent, called the protagonist while she was having sex with her "client". Was I supposed to hate her after that? I mean was I even supposed to like her in the first place? It's really weird because Rui just hung up and the incident was never brought up again.

I'm the hero(ine) and I'm here to save the day!

Having Yua as the main heroine is just like how Houki is the main girl in Infinite Stratos. Honestly even IS was more entertaining than this sad game, which is quite a feat I think. I found Rui's "sister" Ayumu very uninteresting, even if she was a miko. Her route was also one of the weakest, simply because there were too many convenient plot resolutions for my liking. I thought Moeka Kana was alright as a heroine but like Ayumu, her route too had little relevance to the overall plot. In fact she even got killed in another route and it had no real consequences whatsoever. Well I guess if Gilgamesh could get put out of commission by Sakura early in Heaven's Feel, there's no reason why Kana couldn't die and be quickly forgotten.

I want to erase every page of Epistula before they turn people into monsters

From every world, the past and the future, with my own hands! No wonder Nine sounded like QB, I mean is he/she even called that because kyuu is "nine"? All these bad points and an unfriendly user interface aside, the game is not without its merits. The voice acting and music are both quite good; the art is nice but there are a few pretty obvious mistakes like Narumi's missing left hand and some body proportion issues. All in all it's not a terrible game, just a really average one that could have been much better if it didn't borrow so heavily from other titles.

That was a rather unnecessarily long review I think, so how about a picture of Subaru to lighten the mood?

I kind of like how this turned out in the end. It was pretty hard trying to take a good photo of the figurine. I could feel my hands trembling with excitement...except that they didn't. That reminds me Material Brave, the spiritual successor of Duel Savior, is coming out tomorrow. I will probably check it out when I get the chance, which means that I will have to squeeze out my time like a sponge. Hard.

I can't say that I'm not a little bit concerned though.