Reseñas de Adventure of a Lifetime

2

I was on the fence with this game, because there were elements that were done very well, and others that were done very badly. With that little preface out of the way, let's get into the review. I edited this review to correct a mistake on the assessment of the plot and some minor typos. [h1] Introduction [/h1] This game is a romance VN from MoeNovel, the first game from that developer that I played. It's about... well... an adventure... for sunken treasure. It's the story of three characters from different backgrounds that band together to find some lost heirloom, and having fun while at it. While it's fun to read and watch, it has some serious issues. Let's find out the good, the bad and the ugly of this game. [h1] The plot [/h1] The plot of this story is about the finding of a lost heirloom. Said heirloom has a connection with one of the main characters, who left everything behind just to find it, in hopes to resolve some serious family issues. Then, after meeting the main character and his childhood friend, they decide to gather information about the heirloom. And this is were things go south, not for the characters, but for the writing, because the only reason the characters could find the location of the heirloom is due to a major plot contrivance. I say it's a contrivance because the payoff hinges on an extremely unlikely event. The writers clearly didn't put on the work of creating an scenario where the payoff becomes more likely, and that, compounded by the fact that the rest of the plot can't happen without said event, only makes the contrivance worse. After some other events, the story branches into two separate plotlines, which in romance VNs are called routes. In this game there are only two characters with separate routes, Emily and Chisa. I have no major problems with Chisa's route, other than the romance is a bit rushed and subdued. Emily's on the other hand, has a big issue, because the biggest payoff of her route is supported by another major plot contrivance. The writers clearly wanted the big payoff without working in any logical setup. This breaks the relation cause-effect, and can potentially disconnect readers from the story. This can be a problem in any game with a plot, but it's specially damaging in visual novels, because VNs aren´t gameplay-heavy. It's more reading than anything else, and this makes writing of paramount importance. [h1] The characters [/h1] There are three important characters in this game. The main character, Hiroki, is a teenager who came to help at a cafe at Ogasawara. There is no clear indication of his personality, traits or flaws, but has distinct goals and motivations. The problem is that said goals and motivations has little to do with the plot, and there is barely any character development, which makes him a plain character. That's not the case with the two girls with routes in this game. Chisa appears to be a fun character, with an upbeat personality who loves the sea, and has a sassy side to her. However, later in the story, we learned about her reluctance to diving and the reason behind it. She usually conceals her emotions rather than be honest about them, and she hates how people normally see her, which makes her to make a difficult choice regarding her dolphin friend. Her ultimate goal is consistent with all mentioned above and her motivations are understandable. Her route is reasonably well written, but the romance is rushed and very lacking, which is strange, considering this is a romance VN. Emily, on the other hand, can be considered as the polar opposite of Chisa. She hates and fears the sea and has a very serious outlook about her. She is, arguably, the best developed character of the game, because she ends up facing her fears and overcoming them, changing her views for the better. Her goals and motivations are clearly understandable and defined, and, better yet, they are of great importance for the plot. In fact, the entire plot hinges around her goal. Too bad her route has a major writing issue, and, again, the romance is very rushed and lacking. There is nothing worth of mention about the supporting characters. They are either comic reliefs or plot devices. [h1] Game design [/h1] Like I said in my Cafe Stella review, this game has a feature of changing the format of read text to help the player keep track of unread text. However, the implementation in this game is bit flawed, because it's more subtle, and some players may not tell the difference, but I think this feature is a must in visual novels, so I'm all for it. The dating sim mechanics work as they should, for the most part, because there are some flaws. First, the difference in dialogue between options isn't easily noticeable, which can feel like there is not much difference between one choice or another. Second, some choices are a bit confusing, specifically the two last ones, because it appears that the next to last choice raises two flags at the same time, and the last one can be a bit misleading, because the player has to choose between the two girls for a specific event in the game, and, depending on how many flags have being raised, the player ends up with the girl that hasn't been chosen. Still, these are minor issues in game design. Another thing worth mentioning is the so-called tips. They function in the same way as the tips on the Steins;Gate franchise, but the implementation can be a bit intrusive, because the info appears in a pop-up window in the bottom-right corner of the screen, which can be distracting. Personally, I like the implementation of tips in Steins;Gate more. [h1] Artistic and technical elements [/h1] This is where the game shines the brightest. The art design is very good, and I was very surprised when I compared the background of Minamijima in the game with a image on Google Earth of the same location. The attention to detali is very impressive in all real life locations. The visual effects and animations are awesome for a visual novel. Splashes of water, air bubbles when underwater, fireworks, general animation, are all well done. The CGs and SDs are of good quality, the sound design is on point, the voice acting is good, but it needs some polishes here and there, but the music in this game is excellent. It matches the setting and the situation perfectly, and some musical themes are nothing short of amazing. The performance is consistent and stable, but I strongly recommend configuring the game to run on dedicated GPUs. Like I said, this is the best part of the game. Now, to summarize: Pros -The technical and artistic elements are par excellence. -Mostly functional dating sim mechanics. -Good dateable characters. Cons -Lazy and contrived writing in plot-critical instances. -The main character is uninspired and bland. -The romance is sparse and a bit rushed. Like I said at the beginning, I was on the fence with this game, whether if I could recommend this game or not. At the end, I decided to recommend it, despite its blatant writing issues. It's possible to enjoy poorly crafted content, and I enjoyed the game, despite the issues mentioned. That's the only reason for which I recommended this game. Had I had a bad time playing it, it would have been easy to recommend against buying the game. [hr][/hr] [b] Note 1: [/b] There are some sexy CGs. Screenshot them like your life depended on it. [b] Note 2: [/b] Why in the translation called "Phin" to Kyutarou? Kyutarou is cuter.

Lo bueno 1- Variedad de personajes. 2- Tienes 2 rutas románticas por lo que tus decisiones influyen en el final (mi ruta favorita es la de Emily). 3- Variedad de GC muy bien trabajados. 4- Bonita banda sonora. 5- Diferentes escenarios. 6- buena traducción al ingles. 7- Una duracon bastante buena. Cosas negativas. 1- No esta en español. 2- Algunos GC se repiten. 3- La ruta de Chiato podria haber tenido un mejor final.

Una novela visual entretenida y disfrutable, no es un eroge y no destaca en nada pero la pase bien leyéndola y eso es lo importante. La trama? La vieja y confiable, protagonista que vuelve a la ciudad que frecuentaba de niño luego de "X" años transcurridos y se reencuentra con amigos de la infancia y a la vez se integra un personaje nuevo que conoce en su vuelta a la ciudad creando así aventuras y cosas varias. En cuanto a diseño, tiene un arte bonito y una banda sonora floja en mi opinión (o al menos no logro captar mi atención) pero se disfruta. Las voces de los personajes me gustaron bastante eso sí. Cuenta con dos rutas por las cuales optar con sus leves pero interesantes diferencias en el desarrollo de las mismas. Poco mas que decir, una novela visual que recomiendo pero si se puede esperar a una rebaja pues mejor.

Muy cool el juego, siendo sincero una grata sorpresa. Una interfaz aunque ordinario muy útil y el sistema de citas va bastante bien. No olvidando mencionar que la validez del juego es impecable

Español: Gran historia, como era de esperar de PULLTOP. La VN es algo corta (15 horas y ya me terminé toda la VN), pero es realmente atractiva. La temática de buceo y de encontrar un tesoro perdido realmente me gustó. El desarrollo de los personajes principales se nota conforme vas avanzando en la historia. La música es de calidad, como era de esperarse de TWOFIVE, perfecta para cada ocasión. El arte también es de resaltar, tanto los paisajes dentro y fuera del agua fueron sorprendentes. Definitivamente una VN de calidad para disfrutar. English: Great story, as expected of PULLTOP This VN is kinda short (15 hours) but it is really good. I really like its theme, which is about diving and finding a lost treasure. The characters development as the story pass by is good, specially with Hiroki and Emily (at least that's what I think). The music is, as expected of TWOFIVE, perfect. The art also needs to be mentioned, as the scenery inside and outside the water were amazing. Definitely I would recommend this VN, it's shot but pretty enjoyable nonetheless. PPDD: Phin is the best XD