FINALLY finished this. (I say finally, but it only took around a week and a half. I just...didn't love it.)
[Note: I was updating a previous status as I finished each route if you want those thoughts, but I'm transferring some to here.]
2 ✮ = it was okay
100% Completion:
- All routes -- Best endings, good endings, bad endings, and game overs for all five love interests and the finale route
- Side stories -- One unlocks for each of the five main LIs after completing their route
- All CGs -- Five characters and the "other" category
- All Dictionary entries
- Extra stories (6 taking place after the Best endings, 5 taking place after the bad endings, one for finale route)
Music: The music is pretty solid, and really suits the setting. Lots of jazzy mobster tunes. My favorite track was "Mistral."
Aesthetics: The CGs are reeeeally beautiful, and the character designs are great. There's a sort of cross-hatch effect goin' on with the backgrounds, which I didn't love at first, but it grew on me.
Story: Incredibly disappointing, especially for an Otomate/Idea Factory release. Only a handful of the routes even went into Liliana's (the MC) "role" and background. The Finale route just went way off into this whole other plotline. The routes were short compared to some other VNs I've played, which I'm grateful for because I just wanted to get this one over with.
In some VNs, apart from the common route before each branching LI route, there are overlapping scenes (or scenes that are similar but have different outcomes) because the story in each route is still related. In THIS, the characters don't even maintain the same personalities or motives across each route. While the overarching plot regarding the MC is mostly the same, the events in each route are quite different, but still don't contribute to a main plot as a whole because none of them feel "finished." It just wasn't done well.
(An example of my problem here is that Dante is genuinely a pretty solid, sweet dude, but in Orlok's bad ending, he rapes the MC and keeps Orlok locked in his basement with his fuckin' Achilles tendons cut.)
Edit to add: There also just wasn't much by way of narration. Any time Lili was simply narrating, it was like one or two sentences, never very descriptive or informative. It would be like, "Dialogue, dialogue, Lili says she went to the lounge, dialogue, dialogue, Lili says the town is lively, dialogue." There just wasn't much in between all of the dialogue.
Route order played:
Nicola → Yang → Dante → Orlok → (unlocks) Gilbert → (unlocks) Finale
Thoughts on each route:
Nicola:
Probably my least favorite overall. I don't feel like it contributed too much to the overall plot. Doesn't go into the MC's role at all, and it's just about the only route where Nicola is likeable. His personality is the most different across routes, basically just suiting whatever dumb plot point the writers wanted him to.
Yang:
He's the worst human of the bunch, but I liked his route quite a bit. It has one of the more solid plots to it, as it combines both information about the MC and a glimpse into the dealings of the Lao-Shu (Yang's Family). The Lao-Shu are the outliers of the three Mafia Families operating in Burlone, and are an offshoot of the Liu Huang Hui operating out of China. Yang doesn't give two shits about the parent Family, and just wants to do things that entertain him, whether that's annoying people or killing them. This is really the only route that actually addresses any Mafia-like business, as there are parts dealing with human trafficking and the distribution of drugs. There's minor stuff in the other routes, but this one felt the most like a "girl abducted by Mafia family sees what they do behind the scenes" story. Yang's voice is my favorite part of this entire game. He's absolutely fucked up but he's also my favorite LI.
Dante:
Dante's route is the one in which we finally get all of the information regarding the MC's role and why everyone either wants to abduct or protect her. I would have assumed that this would be the "true" route, and, even having finished the game, I'm still not sure why Gilbert's is the one unlocked by finishing the other four. Dante is a solid character. He's the youngest of the bosses and is running the Falzone Famile, which has the longest history in the area. His history is also tied to the MC's. In most of the routes, he's dependable and charitable, and does whatever he can to protect his family, the MC, and the town.
Orlok:
I was really looking forward to this one, but it was a disappointment. Orlok's route is the only one apart from Dante's that should have really explored the MC's role and gone further into that whole aspect of the story, but it barely even addressed any of it apart from Orlok's ties to the Church. Orlok's a good character though--soft-spoken informant/assassin who just wants to protect the MC.
Gilbert:
I will be honest that I wasn't really looking forward to this route. I didn't dislike Gilbert, but he was kinda whatever to me in the other routes (even though I adore his VA). He's the current leader of the Visconti, who formed by breaking from the tradition-bound Falzone (Dante's family) at some point in the past. His route was like a whole separate-but-not storyline involving counterfeit money, and he ended up being a good LI. The best part, though, is that, instead of dumb "let's get rid of the other families" happening throughout the route, all of the main characters were working together. It was a much better look into how they would interact with their varied personalities. There was also a bit more info about the MC beyond what we got with Dante's/Orlok's routes.
Finale:
So, this one is actually somewhat a branch from Gilbert's route. You do the first four chapters of his route again with some choice differences, and then it branches into the finale route. There is also technically now a sixth LI, but it's still more focused on the counterfeiting plotline than on a relationship. I liked this route because it went even further into the Key Maiden (the MC's role) and gave a bit more information about the previous one. It's just weird that the counterfeit money storyline is only present in Gilbert's and this route but does a better job at storytelling than the rest of the game.
Overall thoughts:
I don't feel like this game did a cohesive job of telling a story across several branching routes. The overlap was minimal, and only sporadic routes really even had anything to do with the promised premise. I enjoyed the art and voice acting. I liked the premise, but the game just didn't do it justice.
[Nicola, Gilbert, Dante, Yang, Orlok]
