Zenith Chronicles (BxG) - (promo over)

[ixWishing]

Thanks for sharing!
I'm download this right now~
I'm excited to try it out, haha c:

[The Better Story]

This looks really interesting, and I'd love to be able to play, but I'm not actually sure what to enter in the pop-up box for the server when I try to download it. My Lemma Soft username and password don't work. Sorry if this is a really stupid question. >_<

[Applegate]

This looks really interesting, and I'd love to be able to play, but I'm not actually sure what to enter in the pop-up box for the server when I try to download it. My Lemma Soft username and password don't work. Sorry if this is a really stupid question. >_<

Zenith Chronicles (Windows only, 158 MB)
user: lsf
password: lsfspecial

Just under the link.

[sharkiecutie]

*Downloads*

I'm going to save this game up until my cousin comes Its more fun to play with many people xD I'll edit this after I play the game ! Looks so interesting!

[Blue Lemma]

Promo ending soon, get it while it's hot

@Kaiyume: Been very busy, but I remember you!

[Taleweaver]

And to everybody who downloaded it, don't forget to give us feedback! We'd really like to hear your opinion on the gameplay, plot, difficulty level etc.

[LVUER]

I still haven't finished it yet, so I can't write a complete review. But one thing I really want to be added is a progress level bar. Since some level can be short or strangely pretty long. It's kind of frustrating to not know when the level will end.

[Skarn]

Good game. Actually, even if I had already downloaded it for free during the promo period, I did buy it after finishing it, just to give some money to the team, who clearly deserved it.

I suppose I am deep enough in the game to review it (10 endings done, half visible "Mango" stages unlocked), even if I have yet to complete all the legends.

Zenith Chronicles is more of a shooter than a visual novel. You will pass a lot more time shooting at things than reading text. Even if you are a big VN fan, if you are allergic to shooters, this game is probably not for you. If you do not mind, or indeed love, fighting lots of firing-bullets enemies, you will find a pleasant game with a lot of branchings (three main paths, two special ones).

To keep things simple, let review independently each aspect of the game.

Shooter
It is not a bullet hell. You are not a one-hit point wonder. However, it is not that easy. In my first playthrough, in normal mode, I had difficulties for some missions, mostly in the endgame. Let's just say that the final boss deserves its rank. I am not a shooter expert, so I think the game should be accessible to most in easy mode... with a good build of skills. More of this later.
Full of confidence, I tried to do the legends. In hard mode. Holy Madoka, legendary hard mode is indeed hard. And I have no idea how I will be able to do some of the last legends (Defeating the final boss without taking a hit? Seriously?). If you are a perfectionist who want to catch them all, you will spend a lot of time on this.
There is perhaps a little to much bonus contents unlocked by completing legends. Since you need a lot of points to unlock them, and hard mode gives 1.5 times more than normal, players stuck in the easy, or even normal, difficulty, will miss most of it.
Some levels, especially the vanilla ones (no special objectives, just fly and kill stuffs), seem a little to long. For example, sometimes, the number of enemies starts to drop, the music fades, you think it is the end, and suddenly the music loops, and new opponents appear. Not boss, not super colored enemies, just the sames as you have just defeated. It is more noticeable in normal mode than in hard, probably because enemies are simpler to kill there, so a quiet "pause" between waves can happen more often.
As for the mechanisms, for the basics, it is quite classic. Auto-scrolling to the right, shooting bullets, avoiding opponents own. Less common, the magic system is pleasant. Each girl has its own moveset, and their spells are far for useless. Actually, in some boss battles, Dan can become a simple carrier for a living destruction machine ("Max explosion spamming secret technique!"). One originality I like a lot is that your behavior during missions affects your alignment, and so the story. If you burn to death innocent peasants for the evulz and try to seduce a magical girl of justice at the same time, it is probably not going to work.

RPG
The less successful part of the game in my opinion. Before each mission, you can equip a set of skills, up to a certain amount of skill points, which increased as you progress in game. These skills are unlocked by spending experience points, earned by defeating enemies.
First, I found the experience points mostly useless. I was almost always limited by my skill points, not my experience.
Second, this system has no explanation storywise. A dragon is not a spaceship, who can improve its firing power by changing its weaponry, but is limited in space/weight. I know it is hard to find a good explanation for such a mechanism, but, since this is a story driven game, I did hope for it. Magical progression could be handwaved (I could imagine the riders are learning how to drain magical power from Dan with time for example), but for physical attributes, like fire breath and resistance, I do not have any idea on how it is supposed work.
Third, I should not refuse some extra tips on how to optimize my character for some missions. There is some hints in the Mango Message, but except for that, you have to learn the hard way. For example, if I want to improve my DPS, what is better? Attack or fire rate? And for surviving, life points, defense or elemental protection? My default build is to max offensive (first attack, second fire rate), but it is most instinct that planned strategy. I actually learned to use magic effectively late in the game, when struggling with the last bosses.

Visual novel
The story is overall good. Not exceptional, but quite solid. The branchings are well done, with the pleasant possibility to jump from one branch to another if all conditions are met, and fun, if hard, special endings.
Now, for the characters. The three main girls are all well-done, especially Meredith. Except perhaps for Lyssa's uniform, when service overrides logic (seriously, does she need to expose her navel to use her magical powers?).
The hero is... completely psychotic. Demon King Shade is more reliable and less dangerous than him. Actually, his default behavior is the dark side, (demonstrated in the Destiny path). Thankfully, he has goody two shoes companions to help him, or this game would only have an evil path. It is rather strange to incarnate someone who can turn in a "kill-them-all" machine anytime. Not uninteresting, but strange.
I am still persuaded that The Chronicler is some sort of destiny god. I have absolutely no proof of this, but I like to think of him as some super entity secretly guiding the heroes.
As for Lord Orowyn... does someone on the team harbor a mortal grudge against bearded redhead? I have never seen such relentlessness against a character. Whatever the protagonists do, Lord Orowyn will be on the other side, and will finish defeated and humiliated. Even if it makes no sense. One time he is a war hero, the other a cowardly traitor. Sometimes, he is actually a good guy, if not really sympathetic, the other a complete bastard. It is like some supreme power orders him to always do the most stupid thing, even if it is a complete contradiction of all he has done so far (how he acts in the Good path for example).

Conclusion
Zenith Chronicles is a good and pleasant game, as the same time a good shooter and a good VN. If you do not hate firing bullets, it is well worth its 9.9$ tag price.

Other unordered things I have to say :
*Sexy Alija is indeed sexy.
*Bug (or feature ?): the game do not save between the two "special" fairy missions.
*My favorite shot is single shot with maxed attack and fire rate. Probably not the best, but I like to defeat my opponents one by one, as fast as possible.
*Most difficult non bonus boss: the final one. Second: all the fairies. These things are small, therefore hard to touch, quick, powerful, have a spell rending Meredith useless and another one making themselves intangible for a short while.

[Taleweaver]

I actually needed Lord Orowyn as "the guy whose plans are always foiled by Dain" in the story - he's someone you'll find in most classic adventure tales. In D&D terms, he's a True Chaotic guy, one who only thinks of himself and does whatever he believes will help him the most. This is why he has no qualms siding with whoever seems appropriate to him and has even less qualms betraying an alliance when he believes he can get away with it. And of course, that's why he is kharmically destined to fail.

[Blue Lemma]

Thanks for the detailed comments and support, Skarn! I sincerely appreciate them.

Zenith Chronicles is more of a shooter than a visual novel. You will pass a lot more time shooting at things than reading text.

I believe the script is about 50,000 words (for anyone who's curious.) Definitely more shooting though.

About the legends, yep... some are very tough to fulfill. I personally tested each one on hard mode to make sure they were possible, but some of them probably aren't worth the trouble compared to the number of points you get for them ^^ For hardcore completionists only. The good news is that you can see how many points each legend is worth, so you can decide where to most efficiently spend your efforts. You do not need to fulfill all legends to unlock all of the bonus content.

For example, if I want to improve my DPS, what is better? Attack or fire rate? And for surviving, life points, defense or elemental protection? My default build is to max offensive (first attack, second fire rate), but it is most instinct that planned strategy.

What is better really depends on the mission. Against enemies with higher defense, increasing attack is more important than increasing firing rate. Offense is more important than life and defense usually (especially for the no-hit and timed legends.) It's still a good idea to usually equip the first life and defense skills, though, since they're cheap.

Except perhaps for Lyssa's uniform, when service overrides logic (seriously, does she need to expose her navel to use her magical powers?).

Hells yeah! (jk)

As for Dain's personality, it's a little tricky. He can be very good or very evil, and it's up to the player to create that personality. He becomes "locked in" at certain points, but in the beginning, you can make him a little psycho ^^;

Other misc things:
* That one "true end" picture is my wallpaper on my dev computer *wink wink* Did you unlock the Rowena Mango Galaxy stage yet? That one is my favorite
* Oops, that's a bug. I mean feature haha >< ...no it's a bug : (
* I like the triple-shot most of the time

[Taleweaver]

As for Dain's personality, it's a little tricky. He can be very good or very evil, and it's up to the player to create that personality. He becomes "locked in" at certain points, but in the beginning, you can make him a little psycho ^^;

Also, Alija is too much of a wet blanket to really steer him into the other direction if he's on the path to evil.

[MJDAlleria]

This game seriously is fun to play - first time playing this kind of game really.
Also Mango Messages sure did make me feel guilty...

Other than that Nightmare Meredith is one super hot babe!

[Blue Lemma]

@MJDAlleria: Glad you liked it

Noooo, no guilt for you from the Mango Message! You got it with mango blessings, not scurvy pirate ways

And yep! Have a bonus Meredith cosplay :3

[MJDAlleria]

Heh - thanks for reassuring me.
Still I wish I could really support them.

Wooo~! Meredith!!!
Seriously loved her scenes the most and how funny she tries to woo Dain
Though there was no outfit change when with Lyss

By the is there any benefits playing on hard mode?

[Blue Lemma]

Meredith is so shameless <3

No outfit change when with Lyssa? Not quite sure what you mean ^_^;

The benefit of playing on hard mode is that you get 50% more legend points for achievements than normal mode, and you get extra EXP for levels. Legend Points are how you unlock a lot of the bonus content.

Oh, and @LVUER: That's a really good idea.