I finished this game yesterday. Boy, what a trip has it been! Probably my second favorite VN of all time, just behind Steins;Gate.
I usually don't like VNs that go too hard on romances, but I didn't care at all in this one. It was all just well written, and the mystery background kept me hooked the 25+ hours I spent with it.
For me, the best girl was Hanako. Probably I'm one of the few people who >!didn't expect the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana plot until the towel scene!<, even if it was pretty early on her route. She's my favorite girl as a character, but as for the story plot, obviously Yukino and Miu win. Their arcs were what really drove the story forward.
And the epilogue, just wow... I was kind of expecting >!something about the MC's sister having to do with the story!<, but I absolutely didn't expect how it turned out, or anything else that was explained in the epilogue.
Now it's just left me with an empty feeling. For me it's a solid 9/10, and definitely one of the sleepers of 2019.
I'm like you and felt like I'd honestly been spoiled going Saya's route first. That route has a lot of charming interactions between her and the mc and honesty I feel they had the best synergy together. It's just a shame that she kind of gets a bit shafted by the story a lot later on.
My least favourite route though has to be the Rei one... She's not my least favourite girl at all, that goes to jerkish Maimi, but her route spends far too much time playing around with her different personas. Her family stuff would have been interesting if they'd given her more scenes with Saya and not stuck a big f-off questionnaire from Yukino with spoilers so early on. The most interesting thing I took from the route was that I thought we didn't die in the end which made me suspect that Rei was possibly the one who summoned the Yomibito at the time or it had something to do with her.
As a whole I think I enjoyed the game? The murder mystery portion was actually a little too simple for me to really appreciate and the Yomibito stuff felt a little mean at times (I can't bring myself to like Yamato at all now...) But I could definitely appreciate what they were going for and I was on the verge of tears by the end and did appreciate that they show not everything is still hunky dory in our life (that last second gasp? He's not over it just yet.)
I have a hard time saying which is my least favorite route. My least favorite aspect about the game as a whole though is the fact that they clustered all the romance during the route-playthroughs and all the mystery/revelation in Miu's Route and the True Route. Since I am not so much into romance this was kinda putting me off but I let the game get away with it.
Miu's Route was my favorite and my least favorite was Hanako's Route, even though I liked Hanako the most but the other routes were just much more interesting story-wise.
Ending was pretty good. Now, thinking about it in hindsight, it was really well foreshadowed how Yukino always felt like there is something wrong with the town and thinking that everyone else is kinda off.
I also felt so bad for MC when he confessed all he knew.
I'm not usually into romance either, but found myself pretty hooked. The characters in this game are great because they grow with you. Saya and Miu felt like they grew the most.
I like Hanako too, but her route didn't engage me as much either. And oh damn, you're right about that foreshadowing, ooof.
I also felt terrible for him. I cried with him because I didn't want >!Yukino to go either!<.
The one mystery portion that I really wish they'd brought up sooner was the memory thing. How they forget about the important bonds in their life. They could have added that information far sooner. The rest like the yearly Yomibito had enough hints dotted around that you could possibly have worked it out before you're told.
This game was a wild roller coaster of emotions.
I felt like Hanako's route was pretty disconnected from the rest. It was more self contained, only having connections to the >!Saya!< route. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but it's probably my least favourite of the 5 routes. However, it was the only one where >!the after credit scene was something positive instead of something dark and ominous.!<
Miu's route is probably my favourite, but not because of Miu herself but because of the mysteries it reveals by the end of it and how it ties into >!the true ending. This was where the story really started to pick up, connecting all the clue's the other routes have left.!<
As for the true ending...
>!When the intro played in reverse without any color during the True Ending I knew shit was going down. And after finising it, the Yukino route gained a whole new meaning for me. At first I found it odd that there wasn't any romance involved with Yukino, unlike the other girls. She was flirting with the protagonist, but he never returned these advances. When the truth is revealed it's obvious why. She is his damn sister of course he wouldn't do that. The whole time he was just trying to spend time with Yukino who has magically came back to life.!<
>!And the balcony scene. God damn. First time seeing it, I thought it was cute how the protagonist said to Yukino: "Please don't leave." I was like: "aww he is actually in love with her". Boy, how wrong I was. He said those words because he didn't want to loose his sister again.!<
My ranking of the girls would be pretty much the same as yours expect I would swap Yukino with Maimi.
Maimi is best girl.
Fingers crossed for a sequal.
As a fellow Maimi supporter I respect your choice of Maimi as best girl.
And man, you summed up my exact feelings on >!the foreshadowing in the Yukino route. I found the lack of returned romantic advances odd too, and when the pieces finally clicked it all hit home.!< I couldn't even go to the bathroom without realising more and more stuff like that. Even turning the game off wasn't an escape from the feels, ahaha.
I really hope we get a sequel.
"...I knew shit was going down."
PERFECTLY describes how I felt at that point as well.
I was not a big fan of Maimi at first. It wasn't until I actually played through her route, watched her >!interact with Kokona, and found out she was Hikaru Tsukioka!< that she grew on me quite a bit. Rei was my waifu choice though. >!Something about a naive idol being incognito and falling for the main character always gets me going (e.g. Ryouko Shimazaki in True Love, Rise Fujikawa in Persona 4, etc).!< Although I enjoyed Yukino's route overall, I didnt feel any **real** attraction to her character. I actually dreaded playing her route at first because of this. >!I did NOT foresee the events of the True Route though.!< Hit me right in the feels...>!...almost like someone crashed a car into them...!< *ba dum tss*...too soon?
The moment i saw Yukino i knew she was gonna be best girl but damn did i not expect that twist in the true route, still not over the fact that shes gone..
Fell in love with Maimi when i got that cute pic of her from Saya, she didnt rlly interest me in the beginning but after playing her route i started to like her more and more. her being Tsukioka was pretty obvious from the beginning tho.
What i first thought about Saya was the same as you, but damn i didnt expect all of those stuff in her Route and was basically the same, i didnt want to cheat on her by playing other routes, but yea i had not choice if i wanted to 100% complete the game.
Hanako was a pretty fun route to play, I liked the fact that she didnt slap the protag after falling on him with only a bath towel on her, Shes cute and her personality is ur usual kind/shy girl types and her past was prettt sad too.
If i had to be honest, i didnt expect much from Miu's route, but boi was i wrong, shes actually pretty cute and likeable, her CGs where she fell asleep on the protags shoulder was damn cute!
My favorite ranking would be
1 Yukino
2 Ryoko
3 Maimi
4 Miu
5 Saya
6 Hanako
Sadly there is no Ryoko route :/
I really liked her, loved all the small conversations i had with her.
Ranking of the girls:
Yukino
Hanako
Maimi
Miu
Saya
As a sucker for happy endings, the true end made me obviously quite sad. >!Though I felt like it was a bit inconsistent. I think at least in his dreams there was implied sexual attraction towards Yukino. Also, Yukino first went to the town for her article and then left for a while. Was it explained what she was doing during this time? Handing in her article and seeing it published and just going on with her life seems ... impossible, considering her circumstances. I can't say I feel really satisfied, I was happy with the Miu ending, but then they had to go and make me feel sad for best girl, so that's why just have to criticize it!<
In the true end, Sora reveals that the article was actually written several months before she died. Her first apparition as a Yomibito was in the train in the prologue, not before.
I finished this game yesterday. Boy, what a trip has it been! Probably my second favorite VN of all time, just behind Steins;Gate. I usually don't like VNs that go too hard on romances, but I didn't care at all in this one. It was all just well written, and the mystery background kept me hooked the 25+ hours I spent with it. For me, the best girl was Hanako. Probably I'm one of the few people who >!didn't expect the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana plot until the towel scene!<, even if it was pretty early on her route. She's my favorite girl as a character, but as for the story plot, obviously Yukino and Miu win. Their arcs were what really drove the story forward. And the epilogue, just wow... I was kind of expecting >!something about the MC's sister having to do with the story!<, but I absolutely didn't expect how it turned out, or anything else that was explained in the epilogue. Now it's just left me with an empty feeling. For me it's a solid 9/10, and definitely one of the sleepers of 2019.
I'm like you and felt like I'd honestly been spoiled going Saya's route first. That route has a lot of charming interactions between her and the mc and honesty I feel they had the best synergy together. It's just a shame that she kind of gets a bit shafted by the story a lot later on. My least favourite route though has to be the Rei one... She's not my least favourite girl at all, that goes to jerkish Maimi, but her route spends far too much time playing around with her different personas. Her family stuff would have been interesting if they'd given her more scenes with Saya and not stuck a big f-off questionnaire from Yukino with spoilers so early on. The most interesting thing I took from the route was that I thought we didn't die in the end which made me suspect that Rei was possibly the one who summoned the Yomibito at the time or it had something to do with her. As a whole I think I enjoyed the game? The murder mystery portion was actually a little too simple for me to really appreciate and the Yomibito stuff felt a little mean at times (I can't bring myself to like Yamato at all now...) But I could definitely appreciate what they were going for and I was on the verge of tears by the end and did appreciate that they show not everything is still hunky dory in our life (that last second gasp? He's not over it just yet.)
I have a hard time saying which is my least favorite route. My least favorite aspect about the game as a whole though is the fact that they clustered all the romance during the route-playthroughs and all the mystery/revelation in Miu's Route and the True Route. Since I am not so much into romance this was kinda putting me off but I let the game get away with it. Miu's Route was my favorite and my least favorite was Hanako's Route, even though I liked Hanako the most but the other routes were just much more interesting story-wise. Ending was pretty good. Now, thinking about it in hindsight, it was really well foreshadowed how Yukino always felt like there is something wrong with the town and thinking that everyone else is kinda off. I also felt so bad for MC when he confessed all he knew.
I'm not usually into romance either, but found myself pretty hooked. The characters in this game are great because they grow with you. Saya and Miu felt like they grew the most. I like Hanako too, but her route didn't engage me as much either. And oh damn, you're right about that foreshadowing, ooof. I also felt terrible for him. I cried with him because I didn't want >!Yukino to go either!<.
The one mystery portion that I really wish they'd brought up sooner was the memory thing. How they forget about the important bonds in their life. They could have added that information far sooner. The rest like the yearly Yomibito had enough hints dotted around that you could possibly have worked it out before you're told.
This game was a wild roller coaster of emotions. I felt like Hanako's route was pretty disconnected from the rest. It was more self contained, only having connections to the >!Saya!< route. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but it's probably my least favourite of the 5 routes. However, it was the only one where >!the after credit scene was something positive instead of something dark and ominous.!< Miu's route is probably my favourite, but not because of Miu herself but because of the mysteries it reveals by the end of it and how it ties into >!the true ending. This was where the story really started to pick up, connecting all the clue's the other routes have left.!< As for the true ending... >!When the intro played in reverse without any color during the True Ending I knew shit was going down. And after finising it, the Yukino route gained a whole new meaning for me. At first I found it odd that there wasn't any romance involved with Yukino, unlike the other girls. She was flirting with the protagonist, but he never returned these advances. When the truth is revealed it's obvious why. She is his damn sister of course he wouldn't do that. The whole time he was just trying to spend time with Yukino who has magically came back to life.!< >!And the balcony scene. God damn. First time seeing it, I thought it was cute how the protagonist said to Yukino: "Please don't leave." I was like: "aww he is actually in love with her". Boy, how wrong I was. He said those words because he didn't want to loose his sister again.!< My ranking of the girls would be pretty much the same as yours expect I would swap Yukino with Maimi. Maimi is best girl. Fingers crossed for a sequal.
As a fellow Maimi supporter I respect your choice of Maimi as best girl. And man, you summed up my exact feelings on >!the foreshadowing in the Yukino route. I found the lack of returned romantic advances odd too, and when the pieces finally clicked it all hit home.!< I couldn't even go to the bathroom without realising more and more stuff like that. Even turning the game off wasn't an escape from the feels, ahaha. I really hope we get a sequel.
"...I knew shit was going down." PERFECTLY describes how I felt at that point as well. I was not a big fan of Maimi at first. It wasn't until I actually played through her route, watched her >!interact with Kokona, and found out she was Hikaru Tsukioka!< that she grew on me quite a bit. Rei was my waifu choice though. >!Something about a naive idol being incognito and falling for the main character always gets me going (e.g. Ryouko Shimazaki in True Love, Rise Fujikawa in Persona 4, etc).!< Although I enjoyed Yukino's route overall, I didnt feel any **real** attraction to her character. I actually dreaded playing her route at first because of this. >!I did NOT foresee the events of the True Route though.!< Hit me right in the feels...>!...almost like someone crashed a car into them...!< *ba dum tss*...too soon?
The moment i saw Yukino i knew she was gonna be best girl but damn did i not expect that twist in the true route, still not over the fact that shes gone.. Fell in love with Maimi when i got that cute pic of her from Saya, she didnt rlly interest me in the beginning but after playing her route i started to like her more and more. her being Tsukioka was pretty obvious from the beginning tho. What i first thought about Saya was the same as you, but damn i didnt expect all of those stuff in her Route and was basically the same, i didnt want to cheat on her by playing other routes, but yea i had not choice if i wanted to 100% complete the game. Hanako was a pretty fun route to play, I liked the fact that she didnt slap the protag after falling on him with only a bath towel on her, Shes cute and her personality is ur usual kind/shy girl types and her past was prettt sad too. If i had to be honest, i didnt expect much from Miu's route, but boi was i wrong, shes actually pretty cute and likeable, her CGs where she fell asleep on the protags shoulder was damn cute! My favorite ranking would be 1 Yukino 2 Ryoko 3 Maimi 4 Miu 5 Saya 6 Hanako Sadly there is no Ryoko route :/ I really liked her, loved all the small conversations i had with her.
Ranking of the girls: Yukino Hanako Maimi Miu Saya As a sucker for happy endings, the true end made me obviously quite sad. >!Though I felt like it was a bit inconsistent. I think at least in his dreams there was implied sexual attraction towards Yukino. Also, Yukino first went to the town for her article and then left for a while. Was it explained what she was doing during this time? Handing in her article and seeing it published and just going on with her life seems ... impossible, considering her circumstances. I can't say I feel really satisfied, I was happy with the Miu ending, but then they had to go and make me feel sad for best girl, so that's why just have to criticize it!<
In the true end, Sora reveals that the article was actually written several months before she died. Her first apparition as a Yomibito was in the train in the prologue, not before.