This thing is
amazing!
I finished and got all the endings already and I love this. The art alone makes me want to cry only due to the fact that I'm nowhere near that awesome and am insanely jealous. XP
Seriously, though, everything was so nice to look at. I liked the customized menus and everything. It really added to the playing experience.
Story writing's pretty tight. It was really entertaining and I found myself caring about what was going on. Merui, as someone else has already said, is a great protagonist. She was energetic enough, lively enough, to make her enjoyable without making her annoying or overwhelming.
The guys: Damn you, why did you make me like ALL of them? I'm not supposed to like ALL of them! ;___;
Meh, I forgive you. XP
But, more in depth about them:
Travis: I can't say that I like his name very much. Every time I see or hear the name "Travis" I think of trailer trash for some reason. It could just be that I knew a guy who
was trailer trash by that very name. *shrug*.
When I started playing through his path I was wondering why he was making such a big deal about Merui going after Alistair in real life. He mentions the "possibly misconstrued as underage gambling" thing but then gets all scary mad at Merui. I was like, "Woah dude, calm down. It's a game! O_o;;". 'Course, then it started sounding like he was hiding something that had to do with the game. Again, I was like, "Dude, come on!". Once I found out it could get him kicked out of school I was like, "Oooooh". Then I could understand the big deal. XP
Back to the scary mad scene for a moment: When I heard the music kick in for it and saw Travis's reaction to Merui telling him about Alistair--good grief! I was scared for Merui's safety for a minute there! I'm not kidding! I thought he was gonna kill her or something! Haha. XDDD
Anywho...
I know I said I liked all three of them but Travis has to be my
favorite.
His 3rd event CG was majorly sexy~
Derek:
I have to be totally honest--the only reason I guessed him first as Alistair was because of a wild guess. I had no idea who it was, really, when it was time to confront him. A lucky guess, and the fact that I had already eliminated Travis as a suspect early on (I was playing his path at the time). Once I learned he was Alistair on the first play through I started to wonder if the whole thing about his parents was just something he was throwing out there to play Merui. Turns out it was real, all right. Poor guy.
Somebody mentioned that Derek's ending seemed kind of abrupt and that his change from playing to sincere was odd (I think?). Anyway, I didn't think so. I think he's just used to acting the way he always does--forward, open and charismatic--but was forced out of it the moment Merui confronted him. I think he was trying to come to terms with it at the same time, too. Maybe he had no intention of saying anything until she came to him (or she to someone else if he pops up to confess--I didn't bother accusing anyone else when I played his path as I already knew it was him by that time).
I also find the art in the first post to be kind of telling in a subtle way. It is, after all, Derek's picture in the middle looking more...evil(?) than the other two. That was a nice touch by the artist (and you, sake, if you coordinated the art to be that way). I like that kind of small attention to detail.
Shiro:
I like Shiro, but he has to be my least favorite of all the guys. I think it might've been that I found him to be more boring than Travis and Derek. He spends a lot of time closed up and doesn't show much except every now and then (like the bitterness when Merui asks about his parents or the smiling he does occasionally). I dunno. I guess he just had less personality. *shrug*
I also didn't like the fact that he turned out to be FionaWings. I mean, it was a nice twist (did NOT see that coming! ^^) but...I don't know. It was just an 'eh' reaction for me. I'm tempted to chalk it up to personal preference. XP
He's a nice kid. I'm just sorry that's really ALL I have to say about him, though. ^^;
Oh, and his clothes are sexy. I want them~
Oh, and I found one typo/error kind of thing in the story that I don't think anyone else has pointed out yet (and if they have, apologies in advance):
When Merui refuses to help Travis with the computer tournament thing she gets an e-mail from him to apologize. If I remember right the left [ is missing from the sender name and the e-mail is actually signed with Derek's name, not Travis's.
Well, that's my thoughts on that. Again, awesome VN! I really enjoyed it and hope to see more of this quality in the future~<3