Ever 17 Review

And a rather delayed review...I should really update this more often. Oh well, it's not like anyone reads this, right? At any rate, here is the review that was taken from erogegames that I posted it on before. The next review that I do will be something I haven't posted elsewhere, so look forward to that (sometime in the future, anyway...)! Also, as per usual, any spoilers should be hidden behind spoiler boxes. Although common sense, if you have not played ever17, for the love of god don't look at them! Everything else should be spoiler free.

Ever 17

The visual novel's front cover

Brief Overview
Ever17 -the out of infinity-, more commonly known as Ever17, is a visual novel written by KID and localised into English by Hirameki International. The game is part of KID's Infinity series, which also includes the games Never7 and Remember11. Ever17 has elements of both slice of life and sci-fi, as well having a mystery theme which becomes more emergent the deeper into the story you progress. The deep rooted mystery aspect of the game is why it has become one of the most well-known 'mind screw' visual novels around.

The story begins on a fictional man-made island called Insel Null in the not-so distant future. Located somewhere off the coast of Japan, the island is home to an underwater theme park called LeMU, and it is here where you play as one of two protagonists in the game. The first is Takeshi Kuranaki, a relatively average college student who goes to the park with his friends. The other is a teenager who has developed amnesia and has lost many of his memories; forgetting even his own name, he is known simply as the 'Kid'. You're very quickly introduced to several of the game's heroines during the opening part of the game, but it is only after disaster strikes, stranding you aboard LeMU, that the story begins in earnest. Events out of your control then unfold, and questions regarding the nature of the accident, as well as how to escape, begin to surface.

Muv Luv Alternative Review

Nota Bene:

1. To reiterate, spoilers will be hidden behind spoiler boxes, so feel free to read even if you haven't read the visual novel (just don't click on the boxes if that's the case, obviously). Here is an example box:

This is a test

2. Muv Luv Alternative, as well as its prequel Muv Luv, are mature games for those 18 and over. While this review will not have any explicit content (bar, potentially, a bit of profanity), don't play the game unless you meet the age requirements of the game.

Preamble

This review was originally on another site , but I wanted to repost it here so I can have all my reviews on my blog. Before beginning, let me say that this review was originally just going to be about Muv Luv Alternative. However, because Muv Luv Alternative is part of a trilogy of games, I thought it would be apt to provide a brusque overview of the other two games so people who have never read anything Muv Luv related wouldn't be completely lost.

Brief Synopsis

The Muv Luv trilogy consists of two games made by âge, which are split into three parts. The first game, 'Muv Luv', includes the first two parts called Muv Luv Extra (MLE) and Muv Luv Unlimted (MLU); the second game is the third part and is called Muv Luv Alternative (MLA).

What are Visual Novels (aka VNs)?

As this blog is going to have a lot of it devoted to visual novels, I suppose I should clarify what visual novels actually are, since many people outside East Asia (primarily Japan where VNs are well known) may not have even heard of them.

A screenshot from the visual novel Rewrite

Classifying whether a game is a true 'visual novel' or only 'visual novel-esque' is pretty subjective, but, generally speaking, VNs are video games with large amounts of text. Usually the text is used in along with both music (sometimes called 'background music' or BGM) and 2D artwork. Newer visual novels often have voice acting included, too, and various degrees of animation (keep in mind as most VNs are Japanese in origin, the voice acting is also in Japanese, although that doesn't really detract anything for me). In this respect, reading a visual novel is much like reading a book but watching anime at the same time; it's pretty unique.

A CG, or 'computer graphic', taken from Muv Luv Alternative. CGs are like still
shots that you see occasionally in game that help to encapsulate what is happening in the story

The Spontaneous Begining

Well... I thought it was about time to start up a blog so I'd have somewhere to collate my ramblings in some sort of organised fashion. This blog will be where I review video games (or give my thoughts) with a primary focus on visual novels. I may review other things as well, if I feel like it, such as light novels, manga or anime. I'll also post an update or two now and again to tell you guys what I'm doing, what'll be coming up in the blog, as well as any general musings about the video game industry that happen to spew eloquently flow forth from my mind.

To give you an idea of what sort of games I'm into (and therefore what sort of content to expect), I like story heavy visual novels, various kinds of RPGs, as well as a good amount of strategy games, too. I'm not really into MMOs or Action games, though if a good one comes along that captures my attention (i.e. makes me waste a disproportionately large amount of my time), then you can expect to see some stuff on that. Additionally, I'm chiefly a PC gamer as I have to remain mobile. Consequently, besides the little bit of gaming I do on the DS/3DS, most of what you get from me will be PC based (or at least emulated on the PC) so...take that for what it's worth.

(That said, if a really great game comes along, I may just 'borrow' a friends console in order to play it).

That wraps up the general introductions for the blog. I suppose I need some catchphrase that exudes 'me' in some sort of way in order to say good bye...unfortunately most of the good ones are already taken. And the majority of the ones that aren't are a mixture of the really cheesy and the really terrible; often both. I suppose I'll settle for ja, nice and simple...and Japanese. An added bonus.

So, for now...

Ja~.