Recent reviews by Mitzvahman72

Once you slog through the 1st half of the novel (Which IS boring…), it is a good yuri visual novel with intrigue, adventure, a great proportion of fantasy and the occasional cute and emotional moments. The art and character design is pretty good and there’s a nice and calm set of music that adds a wonderful touch. Meanwhile, the writing is on the longer end but it does immerse yourself into what’s going on in the story, the very good, even foreboding, fantasy world you enter, as well as the character development and relationship which is…pretty good and consensual for something that happens within a span of a week. However, it also drags on in places and there are times the writing can be all over the place, breaking the overall pace of the story. For example, how long do I need to know about the main character’s weakness(es) in the middle of an important situation, or about a relatable person right at the inopportune times? There’s even an info dump of writing that drags on for WAAAY too long, and you wish there was some way to give the script a good trimming.

Nevertheless, this is still good for a visual novel. If you like Ebi-hime’s work, definitely look into The Language of Love and the upcoming Sounds of her Love 2, which she’s co-writing. Speaking of which, Sounds of Her Love is a great free visual novel to look into, along with the light hearted Dorakone for the yuri genre.

I’ve always love to see a disability awareness visual novel done right, and this one did a fantastic job! There is a lot of heartwarming, sincere moments within, prepared with pretty good art for a free visual novel and a fitting soundtrack that range from warm and cheery tone, good jazz numbers and some cozy guitar work to more of the appropriately sad and dramatic set of music. One of the major themes of acceptance was done wonderfully here, showcasing how everyone has their “problems”, but just like the “normal” people they also have their own dreams, people they love and create friendships with, goals to accomplish, ambitions to achieve and a ton of improvements they are able to accomplish. The lessons learned, combined with really great character development within the story, makes the ending(s) all the more satisfying to get through the sad moments and there’s just enough good humor to combat the drama within the overall story.

And the development shows as you take the role of the main male character in the series, who suffered from heart arrhythmia and was forced to go to the school of disabled students. He soon discovered every people in the school are just like the “normal” people and he learned a lot throughout his time in school, seeing people for who they are, improving himself for the better, kindling friendships, helping those who helped him, facing his fears and forging his own path for a bright future even he didn’t expect would happen! However, he is also pretty dense to the point where even mentioning the obvious doesn’t go to his head. Especially in the Emi and Shizune arc, there are times where you may scream at the computer screen something similar to “Will you PLEASE put two and two together and READ THE ROOM!?!?!? DX”.

Anyways, for a typical visual novel showcasing still shots of characters above a text box, there is a lot of movement, “animation” and other genius placements that make the presentation feels there’s more action going on. Meanwhile, the overall writing is within the territory where I call “Making Lovers lite”: The writing is longer than usual and it is pretty immersive, but there are times where it was about five to ten sentences too many. There were also occasions where the writing went on and on and on and on and on until the end of the chapter, where you are more likely to say “Good G-d almighty, I’m glad that’s over with!”. At those times, no matter the correct use of unique words, the length of writing can break the immersion because of that drawn out writing.

If there is one actual problem in this area that will be Kenji. As a male side character, it would have been much better if he was like Jun from Kanon [2006], where he would have a much better participation, even with the main and/or side characters, and you can sincerely feel bad for him when such situations call for it.

But that wouldn’t discourage me from playing through this game. A couple sentence trimming aside, for a free to play visual novel this is a great find in the dramatic genre. Another excellent free visual novel I recommend is Sounds of Her Love and especially its [upcoming!] sequel. There’s also Dorakone if you like a more light hearted route. Are you willing to spend the money for a phenomenal visual novel with better immersive writing? You’ll never go wrong with Making Lovers!!


And for those of you who are into the sex scenes, it’s a mixed collection of sorts. On one hand, you can have one of the most heartwarming set of sex scenes ever shown in a visual novel, even the infamously awkward “first times”. On the other, it can range from underwhelmingly okay to surprisingly spicy, sometimes at the same time. At least the longer-than-usual writing isn’t showcased in this area, compared to Making Lovers where the same longer pacing makes their sex scenes feel like there’s TOO MUCH of it!! >_<


Also, here is my close ranking of the “candidates,” as there isn’t much distance between each of them in the final count.

Emi
Lilly
Hanako
[Misha] (Seriously, she needs her own arc!!)
Rin, even with her mental problems considered.
Shizune, no matter her intentions…

This product has gelatin!! Also, I have a bad feeling it'll taste way too sweet judging by the sugar content. ABSOLUTE HARD PASS ON THIS ONE!!!!














Okay seriously, it may be free to play but that won't stop me from giving this a thumbs down. The controls, physics and camera is wonky, with said camera having a limited field of view. When you're a can rolling around, you'll need all the angles you can get! And it doesn't help when the later half requires situational platforming with the same wonky physics and field of view that will make you accidentally fall off the platform again, and again, and again, and again! You might as well eat a good, delicious, balanced diet and get some good exercise so you can have better performance in the long run.

This is the stand-alone DLC of the phenomenal Making Lovers visual novel! While there isn’t much extra for the price, there are a lot of improvements to the already great formula and attention to detail. Some more graphical details are added, the font spacing has significantly improved and the awkward music cut-off in some of the bumpers have been fixed albeit without the music.

The rest is basically a super thoroughly streamlined version of the original visual novel: The same longer than usual, but enjoyably immersive writing, the excellent music score, the said superb attention to detail and the good sex scenes that does feel as though there’s TOO MUCH of it thanks to said writing. The only difference is slightly more character development for the short amount of time we have for the “candidates” in this DLC.

So just like Don Francisco’s coffee, this is worth enjoying but you’ll need to wait for a sale! This is definitely on your list if you enjoyed the original Making Lovers.



And on that note, THE KAREN ROUTE IS ABSOLUTELY OVERRATED!!!! Just like the others, she just has slightly more development! She’s still the same okay, even jerk-y, character, even with most of the tsundere husk removed. And when Saki’s and Mashiro’s route showcased better development for the territory Karen’s in, it’s basically no contest with the two former routes in the lead!

Here’s another one of those games I wish there was a neutral rating. On paper, this is a phenomenally fun concept that has a ton of potential with plenty of adventure to showcase. There’s a lot of good ways to explore the island and there is a decent variety of fun puzzles you go through to unlock glyphs, then unlocking the grand treasure in the end for you to extract before the others beat you to it. You actually get a sense you are traveling to an ancient place of unknown, filled with wonder and ready to be explored while rivals of many sides fill in for your challenge to the goal. There’s also a good variety of firearms and abilities that get better when you win the match, and it all feels fresh without looking like it’s too avant-garde.

In practice, it’s underwhelmingly okay with some major flaws. The overall gameplay feels like it needs more “oomph” to it and the characters are surprisingly bland for what they are. The levels are grindy for a free-to-play game and it takes a while for you to get a match up and running (ala COD Warzone series!). And it doesn’t help that you randomly start at a location without the game showing where you appeared, which doesn’t give you enough time to react in case you suddenly appear in front of enemies that can mow you down without warning. Weapons you pick up are random which can make or break your overall performance throughout the game. This is especially the case when the awkwardly added PvP elements can’t tell if there are any cheaters in-game. And considering you lose any extra abilities when your team loses the match it feels detrimental trying to get a match running just to reclaim a win to get said abilities back. Also, this may be normal for a free-to-play game but I’ve been getting graphical jitters on a very good computer as well as inputs that didn’t register (e.g. toggling off sprint, holstering a weapon, etc.). There’s also weird UI placements that’s not as bad as COD in its current form, but still pretty annoying with a few too many buttons to press. And it doesn’t help when the game’s monetization system is borderline predatory, rivaling current COD’s “aggressive” advertisement of add-ons and cosmetics you may not need to succeed.

Overall, this needs more polish and I hope it gets much better later on. There’s a lot of potential to be had in this game!

What a wonderful experience this is! Besides the genius concept of focusing on one character of your choice, Smee did a fantastic job making this visual novel! The graphics are beautiful, the character development is well done, the voice acting and most of the humor is spot on, especially in Mashiro’s route, and the overall enjoyment is beyond satisfying throughout. No wonder there was the After Stories DLC after this! While the writing is in the “longer-than-usual” territory, it’s very enjoyable and immersive to the point that it more than makes up for it. Along with the day-to-day moments and antics, the writing also does a great job delving into the realities of having a relationship with the person you love, the overall sincere development of said relationship, the occasional fear of the unknown and making the important plans for the long-term commitment of marriage. Meanwhile, the translation…is pretty good with only a few borderline cringy mistranslations found.

The music is also very good with a impressive set of genres and styles! It ranges from a bright peppy stroll, calm cosmopolitan, a cool evening jazz number, cozy pop rock, a well-balanced duel, a start to a new life, sincere romance, business-forward funk, and even one of the more frantic blues numbers I’ve ever heard. There’s even more and there’s nary a “overacting” moment in the music, which is a rare relief!

And I love the great attention to detail with the UI: You can scroll down to go to the next line or five, scroll back for the script log just in case you missed something or even better, jump to a previous time as far back as…really far if you like!! The skip feature is blazingly fast while at the same time doesn’t skip over any important choices you need to make. Combined with the nifty quick jump feature, this is incredibly well done with the reader in mind!

Our main character showcases what a typical starting character with a bad first impression is like! Don’t panic, because he does have really good development from that starting point into a mature, understanding and very pragmatic guy, albeit with some rough flaws and the occasional expletives still intact. And I don’t blame the residual imperfections in his development, as the entire dating time frame is within a month. It’ll be pretty difficult to cram too much development within that time.

Speaking of which, the sex scenes are very well done, albeit the long writing makes it feel as though there’s TOO much of it. Nevertheless, it does a great job portraying the awkward “first time”, with the following sex scenes getting much more experienced leaving you the impression they have matured together in a sincere way…Well, as much as this visual novel crams the time frame within a month!! Yikes!

And the best route of this game is Saki!! She is a wonderful, classy and incredibly deep and complex character with immense development throughout. You really see how well she improves on the inside, making it incredibly rewarding in the end. I also find it amusing how my wife started saying “Ooooh, so pretty and mature…WILL YOU MARRY ME?!?! I want to have your babies!!”, knowing that it’s our favorite out of all…albeit the lovable quirky Mashiro is another great route too. Saki is also great with firearms too!!

Although I do have some nitpicks: The font spacing seem weirdly close together at times and I find it amusing in some of the bumpers, the woman saying “Making lovers” cuts the music in a awkwardly abrupt way. Not sure if that’s the rare QA oversight. Also, while I appreciate the mouse automatically moving to the “Yes/No” selection when such prompts exist, it’s something that takes some getting used to…

Overall, this is one of THE best visual novels available on steam and you’ll get your money’s worth from it, even better if it’s on sale! I also recommend Sounds of Her Love as well as Dorakone and [from what I hear about] Please Be Happy.


P.S.: If the After Stories DLC is on sale, definitely get it!

LOVE to hear the ambient soundtracks of this game without the ridiculously situational platforming, no matter how many quality of life features the devs throw in? Then you're good to go with this album, as it's generally the best of the Love OSTs. The artist did a fantastic job in this one, ranging within ambient, active, bright, peppy and a sense of a good challenge (Not the situational kind, PLEASE!!)! This OST demonstrates what a 3rd installment sounds like.

Some of the humor is there, but the overall gameplay boils down to "Compartmentalize 30 seconds PLUS regrind your stats while figuring out what the heck I'm suppose to do with said time!". Combined with challenges you need to do to consider each stage as complete, in practice it's not fun in the long run. At least with this version (or was it the other version), it comes with two games in one value purchase...if you like these types of game.

Also, when are we going to see controller button inputs and not PC inputs when they clearly recommend the controller when you plug it in?

Sliding Block Physics Simulator, Arena Shooter Edition!!


Seriously, this is a super fun arena shooter where you can either shot, reverse the enemy's bullets or use the big sliding blocks to your advantage, almost like in Star Wars! The presentation and UI is clean, well executed and offers that "cute professionalism" with a excellent difficulty curve. If there are any nit-picks, it desperately needs a button remapping option, better aiming (especially for readjusting the blocks!) and adding the extra time before each round towards when you retry said round. Oh, and the plot is just there, which is par for the course in typical action "plots." :P

Do restart Steam after you download this DLC. After that, you'll be able to enjoy best [near-literal] mid-range poker in the game, best petite woman in the game and best...use of a overtly heavy and cumbersome saw blade! >.>