Recent reviews by Spodermen

Fureraba ~Friend to Lover~ is a visual novel with comedic dialogue, anime-like graphics, and romance that stirs emotions of excitement, sadness, and downright confusion. This visual novel was truly amazing in its own right.

Pros

● The story was obviously written as a dating sim with the anime "elements" to it, but it worked out so perfectly that I felt like I was there.

● Friends to Lovers has at least 100 or more sprites, making the scenes generally more unique rather than recycling images and just putting different dialogue on the screen like many visual novels do.

● All the characters have unique personalities when you meet them, and no single one starts the exact same, creating a feeling of diversity and relationship goals, friendship or otherwise.

● Unlike many visual novels, Friend to Lover is almost entirely composed of vocalized characters that match the look of said characters, further augmenting their personalities.

● The dialogue was amazingly well thought out, both making me laugh and frustrated with characters at the same time.

● The music used during the conversations was so well placed that is actually conveyed the emotion behind the dialogue, and added humor to even intense moments.

● There is more than four endings to the game, unlike others that only have one or two endings with very slight deviations.

● The game is very long compared to some sixty dollar games right now. At least 20 to 25 hours to get one ending. Will take much longer to get all endings, even if you skip all of the dialogue you've already seen.

● A lot of dialogue and responses to choose from, so even if you talk to a friend about it, you won't have the same dialogue, ever.

● Not recommended for your very first time, but you can quick save before you pick dialogue, giving you the option to reload and choose something else.

● Has an auto save feature that saves every once in a while.

● Has a pause menu with tons of options and a more accurate save time on a specific dialogue to return to later, very rarely is that many options offered to other games, not just visual novels.

● You can scroll back to read dialogue you missed or want to read again. Also has a jump back feature, where you can jump back to a previous line or conversation entirely.

● Has a skip button for dialogue you've already seen, and the prologue for completionists.


With all of that being said, there is some bad points in the game worth listing.

● The characters, despite being 18, look much younger. I suspect this is due to them being anime type characters and Japan will often make their characters look visibly younger intentionally. Can be quite uncomfortable due to the sexual nature some of these conversations and situations have.

● Despite the subtitles being in English, the voices for these characters are in Japanese.(read more in my conclusion)

● Quite a bit of the subtitles had grammar errors, and in at least one case, the dialogue was repeated by your character, looking like you accidentally scrolled back.

● The auto save function is useless when you quit the game. You have to do a manual save from the settings menu.

● The game can be way too long for those who need to see everything or collect every achievement. Again, the skip button helps though.

● At the end of the game, you wonder what happened with a lot of other characters, and the time skips, leaving it up to you to make up your own endings for them.

● Not free.


Conclusion

I highly recommend this game. Even if you don't understand Japanese, the subtitles are awesome to have, and the language oddly gives this game its charm. I can't list the sexual conversations as a pro or con alone, since it's either what you want or don't. The age that the characters look may be off putting however. Worth what I paid for it.

BlueberryNOVA is a short visual novel with dialogue that accompanies anime style graphics that are very detailed, like a visual novel was meant to do.

Pros

● The anime style is on par with many top notch visual novels.

● Very cheap game.

● The music was usually properly placed.

Cons

● The visual novel is more like a short web based flash game with little story, and lackluster characters.

● A lot of spelling errors, but this IS acknowledged.

● Although uncommon for a visual novel to have any, there are no voices in the game.

● The game is very short, even if you get two endings.

● The game, while it shouldn't be free, should be only 99 cents.


Conclusion

The game without the DLC still deals with non consent to somewhat minor physical intimate moments, and suicide related things. I can't include that in the pro or con section as it's declared in the description. So, it's either your thing or it isn't. Overall, I didn't like or dislike the game, but I feel like the creator is talented and could have done much better.

Doki Doki Literature Club is an amazing visual novel with Japanese animation like graphics, and a story that both disturbs and saddens you at the same time.

Pros

● Amazing story that keeps you on your toes.

● The writing felt so natural, and was very immersive to the point it felt like you were there.

●The vocals that were present did not feel like it was something faked by changing the pitch of a male or something from a robot like many other games.

● Music was so well written and timed that it felt like nothing better could be properly placed.

● The anime style graphics were created in a way that even though it was just picture sprites, you could still create the movements inside your head.

● Unlike many other games, visual novels don't require complex movements or real time events, allowing time to think and choose the next course of action.

● Though not recommended on your first play through, you can reload a previous save to select a different option.

● Short game for those with lower attention spans or those who like to jump around. Roughly four to five hours.

● Free, and is better than many current retail games at their sixty dollars.

● Very easy to find and install mods.

Cons

● Not rare or uncommon for visual novels, but almost no voices for characters exist.

● If you like the characters like me, four to five hours is no where near enough.

● If you want all scenes, you need to replay some of the game multiple times. Can be annoying if you're one of those people who want or need to see everything and dissect the game for theories or Easter eggs. There IS a skip button for dialogue you've already read though.

● Can hit too close to home for those who have been through these situations or worry about these situations. The warning in the beginning is NOT a joke.

● If you have a hard time with reading and/or comprehension, this may take you a lot longer than four to five hours.

● If you have Epilepsy and are sensitive to certain colors or intensity of lights, or sound pitches, be very cautious. I have Epilepsy and was perfectly fine with zero discomfort, but everyone is different.


Conclusion

This game climbed its way into my top five favorite video games of all time, and in my opinion, should have a price tag on it. If you can get past the warning and don't mind the length of time, I highly suggest playing it.

This game is, in simplified terms, similar to many dating sims. There are over twenty individual girls to "woo", all having certain requirements to progress your relationship with them.

Pros

● Unlike many dating sims, this offers nearly full vocal dialogue.

● Has hobbies to train your skills, such as motivation, wisdom, lucky, and nine more, giving a sense of time needed to improve.

● Ability to work multiple job and train hobbies at the same time.

● Can reset the game to increse the speed at which stats, jobs or relationships level up.

● Free to play, but gives the option to buy diamonds, a special in game currency, if you want to.

Cons

● Once you get to higher levels in your relationship, stats, or jobs, it takes much longer to level up(six hours to level up a skill from 44 to 45 at the fastest multiplier for speed increase).

● The game gives you a cap on the number of actions you can do at one time, dependent on the number of available "time blocks" you have, and the cost of these actions. Later on you need to train multiple skills at the same time to progress to certain points in the game. If you don't have a lot of time blocks, training those AND working jobs can be impossible, meaning you may have to switch back and forth.

● Can be considered similar to a freemium game. Meaning it's free to play, but you have to pay to progress quicker. Again, quicker, not quickly.


Conclusion

If you don't mind the pay to progress aspect OR the much slower leveling, you will enjoy this game. If this style of gaming is not for you or you don't like the concepts I listed, I recommend looking for a different game.