Solar Echoes: The Star Legation Reviews

I have enjoyed this game, I'm about halfway through and it is a nice visual novel game. They spend a lot of time fleshing out the different races which is nice if you are interested in the different ways each race lives. I was offline playing for a few hours so I probably have 2 more hours than what is on record. Oh, I forgot to mention, I really enjoy the soundtrack and visuals. The music is simple but doesn't get annoying.

Imaginative and exuberant, with strong characters and a large dash of humor. Be aware you'll want to save often, in case you misjudge a conversation or make a mistake in battle (though the battles can be set to auto-win if you prefer). The difficulty was well balanced, and the mystery was well done. Almost all the characters were truly delightful. I will quibble with the "Over 12 hours of gameplay, with additional hours in alternate routes and endings." My first playthrough took about eight hours, so I'm not sure how you can come up with twelve without counting alternate routes. Maybe if you're a slow reader? Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and will be looking forward to any future ones by this developer.

It doesn't offer anything interesting enough for me to be able to justify the price

Could this be the best visual novel of 2022? I think there's a strong possibility, even though it is only February! There's really a lot to love here in terms of the story, characters, world-building, writing, and even animations. In fact, this is one of the most "animated" visual novels I've ever played! You can tell the developers put a lot of effort into the various cut-scenes, character movements, action scenes, and other elements that make the whole experience feel dynamic and alive. They didn't have to do it, but they did, and I commend them for that! ^_^ You can tell the writers know a lot about science and astronomy as some of the conversations and lore feel very well thought-out and researched. I feel like this is the kind of game you need to have a PhD for to properly appreciate all of the scientific details and lingo. Again, the devs didn't have to go this far, but they did and it shows just how much passion there was in this project. I am very impressed with that! Overall, I will give this game a score of 8 out of 10, and you might be wondering how come it's not 10 out of 10? Well, there are two big downsides in the otherwise stellar experience, in my opinion: [olist] [*]The game NEEDS more save slots. This game has many choices, big and small, that are fun to explore and try out, but having only 5 save slots makes that task virtually impossible and unwise. [*]I really wish the alien characters were romanceable, at least some of them should be, I believe. I think that would add more drama, storytelling possibilities, and will just let the player get to know them better. It just seems like a big missed opportunity not to do it in a story like this, you know? [/olist] In fact, if the devs add a Kitheya romance route, I will personally buy 10 extra copies of The Star Legation and gift them to all my friends and whomever comments on this review! [b]YES, I AM VERY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS![/b] Other than that, I have a list of small nitpicks that I think the devs could look at and perhaps address them better in the game's dialogue and world-building, [list] [*]The Interstellar Union is not a mouthful of a name, so why do all the characters insist on shortening it to ISU all the time? It feels a bit unnatural to me. [*]I find it hard to believe that the space-faring humans would use Fahrenheit and the imperial system instead of the metric and Celsius. Maybe if there was a better explanation as to why that's the case, I would buy it, but the game acts as if humans just always use those, even though in our world only about 5% of the planet utilizes those measurement systems instead of metric and Celsius, which are just better. [*]How come Trey is only 27? I mean, he was in the military for years, then spent years managing a dangerous prison colony, and was even chosen to be the Humanity's representative for the Interstellar Union. I mean, sure, it could be just me feeling inadequate as I have turned 28 today and haven't accomplished even an iota of that, but I mean, he even LOOKS older! I assumed he was in his 30s just based on his appearance. [*]I think it's a bit of a shame we didn't get to see the Krissethi homeworld more aside from that throne room. I mean, yeah, we saw some other planet of theirs, but it wasn't their homeworld. [*]I like Akanutoka, but it feels like his addition was some kind of DLC of sorts as he doesn't appear on the game's title screen and there isn't really a way to get to know him or his people better. Was he perhaps a part of a plotline I missed? [/list]

Solar echoes is a game that was largely made by a single guy, and the end result is pretty impressive to say the least. Gameplay: Pretty standard for a visual novel. You read the story and at certain points you are presented with some choices to make, your choices actually do matter so you have to be careful with what you pick. Some choices will even result in a game over so choose wisely. Story: The story is pretty straightforward. You are Trey Donovan a former military man who has been selected by the government to travel to various alien worlds with the goal of uniting all the alien races under one banner. In order to do this you have to bring back a delegate from each alien world to the peace conference and hopefully order will be restored in the galaxy. However whether or not you succeed is based on the choices that you make. Characters: This where the game really shines. Watching the interactions between the characters and watching their relationships grow and develop over time is the most engaging part of the game. Of course how these relationships will develop will be based on the choices that you make. My favourite was Oasu by the way. Graphics: The character sprites are really detailed and have a wider range of emotions to express how they are feeling. I will be honest some of the backgrounds did feel a little bland at times especially on the jungle planet, but it was pretty minor since it's the characters that are the most important part of the game. It would have also been nice to have some walking animations for the characters but due to the limitations of the game this is understandable and not a huge deal. Music: I enjoyed the music of the game. It has that classic sci fi feel to it, the same that you get when watching some of those old sci fi shows on tv. So yeah it fits the game nicely. All in all a pretty solid game overall and it's very impressive since it was mostly a one man show. As far as visual novels go, this one is pretty good and is definitely worth your time. I give it a solid 8/10.

My first ending was pretty good tho i did not flirt with anyone so i ended up solo but all in all it was a good ending. I reloaded a earlier save file to see if i could pick one of the human girls at the end over replaying the game and discovered that just bugged the game and got me a bad ending ouch. I dont think i will bother replaying this game just to end up with one of the two romance options. I had fun, it was a okay story, i liked the characters in it, its a shame i did not have more time with the two last aliens that joined or more time to interact with the reptile.

[h1] Very enjoyable humorous comic space opera with an interesting, varied plot, fleshed out characters, nicely suitable music, many surprising events and multiple paths to explore (including some light, heterosexual romances). Highly recommended for gamers who like to read (a lot) and can enjoy well written comic scifi novels. [/h1] Please note: This is an unfinished review I only started to write, because I'd like to encourage more people to try the game and to share their thoughts / judgments (here or in the discussion forum). I will continue to elaborate on the various aspects of the game when I have played more, but I think that even now (with my first playthrough) it's justified to recommend the game to everybody who likes humorous scifi comic VNs. (please ignore my Steam-playtime in this regard, because there is much afk included.) There also exists a very nicely done demo which is almost a complete copy of the beginning of the game, so that you could easily judge by yourself if you'd like the game or if you don't. (Whereby the length of the demo represents estimated 10% of the complete game, if you'd only play one of the main paths.) And if you have touble with the (now) 15 save slots of the game, I can also give you some[url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1371880/discussions/0/4362302357667272737/] hints [/url] how to save as often as you like, without overiding any of your old saves. :happens: Moreover, I think that the Devs deserve a bit more attention for this marvelous VN-experience they have crafted very skillfully. The main developer states that he is a solo indy dev and publisher (since he wrote the code, produced the music and wrote all of the dialogues and story), but he was also supported by very talented artists who are responsible for all the nice comic art and the other graphical aspects of the game. (you can read the whole story[url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1371880/discussions/0/3185736218674968162/] here [/url]) I also would like to encourage everybody to join the (little) community in the forum where you can discuss/ask everything you like or tell the dev your thoughts or expectations/wishes you have for this or (possibly) upcoming games. According to my experience the friendly dev is constantly reading and contributing to the forum, just like he also reacts and fixes little issues/bugs very quickly. ;-) 👑 Powered by HoI 4 Deu Curators group in English 👑⠀⠀⠀[list][*][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30388691/] Follow Main group [/url][*][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40282064/] Follow Second group [/url][/list]and discover more reviews from me