How long is this visual novel?

[alanthekaz]

HowLongToBeat.com tells me that the main story is over 60 hours, but that can't be right, can it?

Also, are there multiple endings and significantly different routes depending on choices you make in the story?

[FrozenTrout]

I haven't played Alternative yet, but from what I hear, 60 hours is probably about right.
If you haven't played them yet, start with Muv-Luv (which consists of two parts, Extra and Unlimited). This is the third part of a trilogy, and won't make any sense or have as much of an emotional impact without the first two parts.
And the series has decreasing amount of choices and changes: Extra has the most choices, and the most influence over how the story goes. Unlimited has some, but far less. And then Alternative has very little choice or influence upon the story. From what I hear, this is actually for the better.

[alanthekaz]

Thanks for your reply! I can't believe it really is around 60 hours! I'm about 25 hours into it now. I'm enjoying it a lot, but it feels like it's building up to an end already and so much of the time has just been exposition and flashbacks. I really hope the next half(!) improves. It seems the length could be significantly decreased if they cut back on these long explanations and needless flashbacks (sometimes to things that happened minutes ago!).

Yes, I've played the previous instalments and noticed that this one seems to have far fewer choices. Was hoping there might be some slight changes in the ending at least though.

[Saddam Hussein]

Originally posted by alanthekaz:

Thanks for your reply! I can't believe it really is around 60 hours! I'm about 25 hours into it now. I'm enjoying it a lot, but it feels like it's building up to an end already and so much of the time has just been exposition and flashbacks. I really hope the next half(!) improves. It seems the length could be significantly decreased if they cut back on these long explanations and needless flashbacks (sometimes to things that happened minutes ago!).

Yes, I've played the previous instalments and noticed that this one seems to have far fewer choices. Was hoping there might be some slight changes in the ending at least though.

How'd you like it?

[alanthekaz]

I'm 32 hours into it. I really enjoyed it up to about 25 hours in, but I feel like it's been dragging it's feet since then and I got bored and put it on hiatus. The last few hours have been non-stop exposition, sitting through in-depth lectures and explanations about the backstory and tactics for defeating the BETA. I hope it picks up again soon, because these last few hours have been a slog!

[alanthekaz]

Just in case anybody finds this thread wanting to know how long this visual novel is, I recently finished it on a single playthrough and it took me 47 hours.

[Torqada]

Agree with Alanthekaz. The story really kept your interest, then 20-25 hours in took off on an unnecessary arc that had nothing to do with the main story and just dragged. Seems just like filler so I've walked away a couple of times.

[Rws vi Britannia]

50 hours is about right. I needed 61 because I wanted to get all the achievements

In my opinion (but that's just me) I enjoyed the extra info on tactics and such. I thought it was a breath of fresh air in-between chomp and OP 21st, but I can see why others might not enjoy it