Atelier is back to the way I like it! atleast for the most part.
I decided to make a post about it because why the hell not? :D
The 2nd installment of the fushigi(mysterious) arc/series of atelier games
has everything I love about it, this game stars an energetic young girl named Firis who
grew up in Eldona a mining town near the country border and yearns for the outside world
which is full of adventure and she wants to go on a journey.
One day Sophie an alchemist literally blasts her way into the town and Firis witnesses in awe.
She learns Sophie is an alchemist and wants to try it out as well since its new and exciting
Sophie teaches her and Firis has potential so she asks her parents to let her out of the mine
but they decine because the people born in the mine aren't allowed to go outside unless
they meet certain requirements and Firis is still too young...
Her sister Liane however is allowed to go outside and understands Firis all too well.
Yadayadayade... after a whole month Firis is allowed to go outside on one condition she must pass
the alchemy exam at Reizenberg so she can earn a alchemy license within one year from now
and if she fails she must give up and stay in the mine.
If she passes she is allowed to do whatever she wants to do outside of Eldona and so
Firis and Liane's journey begins in which Firis will meet many new friends along the way.
Suuran digit, its basically a modern wafuu(old japanese style) otome game.
School settings usually put me off but this seemed interesting enough to give it a shot.
Sadly I think not many are interested in it or better put they were but Collar x Malice
and Yuukyuu no Tierblade took all the hype so this otomege went under the rader
well its sorta good it did because it wasn't that amazing or anything
it could've been much better, sure heroine can fight but she's lazy as f**k
and she only really puts effort into it like twice or so.
As much as I love the OP for some reason the full version isn't as good to me, this
is totally normal that the full ver doesn't live up to the TV/Game version.
For play order I recommend startng with Takagi, this is due to his pacifistic deadpan personality
which can make for a boring route because of his I won't fight or protect you for that matter, lol.
Also for the love of Kuro do Yuuhi's route last since his route has the most spoilers of all
so basically you'll end up with this going from least to most spoilers. For Meguru its really best to do him ASAP to save what likeability is left in him...
Takagi > Meguru > Keitarou > Mitsu > Ousuke > Yuuhi.
Pro's
Most if not all charcters was likeable.
- Diverse seiyuu cast(A few popular but not the usual bunch)
- Art and BGM.
Con's
- Short and not enough choices, tbh it feels like mobile game at times.
- Meguru, you are either gonna love or hate him...
- At first it doesn't feel like an otome game.
- copypasta
The prologue, chapter one and two is just the introduction. Too bad there isn't a lot of choices... and not much happens in the prologue + chapter 1/2 to the point its a long prologue and you'll skip over it everytime since nothing new.
In chapter 3 you get to choose between the rich kids aka the student council
or the poor kids(lol not really) which are part of a club called Suuken.
The common route isn't that long and the routes aren't either, in the first few hours
suran digit doesn't feel like an otome game which is fine the only character that
actively pursues Hiroka is Ousuke but Hiroka will have none of his advances in other routes.
Other than that the system is nothing to write home about, standard VN stuff.
Each route takes about 5 hours to clear(give or take) If you're fluent japanese and a fast reader maybe even shorter.
Sadly there is copy pasta, some general scenes during the route are almost identical to others
and in some parts exactly the same but the game classify it as new so haha no read skipping.
The best example is the sports festival but good thing is depending who you go for some things
are different like who's side you're on but still it can get annoying some share the same event.
I liked the heroine's personality in general and her lazing around. lol
Also she isn't afraid of picking fights with people! Too bad they made her so unstable
now we have a both cool and lazy heroine at the same time!
But... when I really think about it this is good because no one is perfect and one
who is confident/courageous should be allowed to be overwhelmed and show weakness
but yeah what is consistency! surely there was another way...
The CG scenes are pretty short, they're like how to put it? Fleeting moments. This is fine with me but a little more dialogue would've been better.
The general scenes are also quick to the point, there isn't any TL;DR but its wasteful.
Overall I wouldn't say its a bad, sure you'll skip like 1/2 hours of common stuff
on 2nd+ play but thats bound to happen, some of the routes are less exciting than others
and speaking of romance in some routes there is not enough of it, the sweet scenes
are too short for me to appreciate them and the ending esp Takagi's makes me wish for more
and I am glad the short stories delivered for once but other than that meh, just the beginning.
As much as I like a diverse cast of characters and their interactions in the case of Suuran Digit its
really a curse rather than a blessing because the first half of the route is a drag in most route
except all of the routes in the student council arc(Ousuke,Keitarou and Yuuhi)
6.5/10
Is my final verdict, its not outright terrible but it leaves much to be desired.
My personal experience made it a lot better than it may seem but its not that good.
The original score was higher but before the end of the year I decided to look over
what I played and reduced it by two points because it really wasn't all that great
nor did it leave a memorable impression on me, imho you're better of spending
your money on Collar x Malice or Yuukyuu no Tierblade if you haven't already
that's not to say Suuran is that bad but... yeah its just doesn't stand out much.
Stop reading hear if you do not want any spoilers, I still avoid mentioning the big topics
and you now my digest are shit and full of my own thoughts sometimes.
One day Sophie an alchemist literally blasts her way into the town and Firis witnesses in awe.
