| This is legitimately one of the worst visual novels I have ever played, not counting yet another asset flip or an outright meme like "sex with Hitler" I honestly don't even know where to begin with this one. I think I will start by saying positive things first. "Angels with Scaly Wings" has got quite an original premise. It tries to be like the creation of Kotaru Uchikoshi (I'm talking about games like ever17 and Zero Escape series here), despite being positioned as “Dragon dating sim”, and even somewhat succeeds in that regard. The strongest point of this game, which most other visual novels lack, is undoubtedly gameplay. So the gameplay is similar to the Zero Escape series, only instead of solving the room puzzles, you are solving the real-life (or at least, what they are trying to be) situations with other characters (dragons, to be précised). While it sends the player to make different routes with each of the characters, it also has got an interesting mechanic (aside from mini-games) like going back in time while allowing you to keep all the items and experiences you acquired in previous playthroughs, so later you can use it to progress further. Also, it managed to tie together some of the backstories of the world and make it relevant for some of the characters, involving them in a single accident. And, I have to say, that it’s even got plenty of side content and bonus routes. Hell, there is even postgame content after the true ending (although it’s nothing more original than simply an achievement hunt). Unfortunately, this is where the positives kinda end. The thing is that it lacks the most important thing that is so relevant when you create an indie game: it lacks soul. And that one single flaw is nullifying every good thing this novel has. So let me clarify for you what actually I mean by that. First off, I would like to talk about characters. Let me say one thing about the majority of them: they are awful. They are so lifeless, stoic, one-dimensional and static, that I would assume it would be safe to call them all dead. The protagonist takes the cake in that regard, because, unlike all other characters, he has nothing. No personality, no appearance, no flaws, no moral principles, no character, on peculiar quirks, and he is so indifferent to everything that even “Lightning” from final fantasy xiii will grow envious of him. When someone flirting with him, or someone dear to him dies, got shot, or when either there is a moral dilemma standing there in front of him, he expressing not a single trace of emotion. Not. A. Single. If this person represents the human ambassador of the future, then I’m worried about the fate of humankind in general. Because of this, the writing lacks any kind of energy or engagement. Everything that is happening through the eyes of the main characters becomes bleak, and every of his response is the most generic and banal phrase you can think of (“yeah”, “no”, “whatever” and so on). In addition, there are a lot of moments when he prefers to be unnecessarily rude for no reason. He is easily the worst protagonist I had ever displeasure of playing as in visual novels. The other characters are no better. They are all as one dimensional as they can get, when either it is Reza (“Don’t care about dragons, I should save humans!!!111”), Administrator (“Don’t care about humans, I should save dragons!!!111”), Remy (“Oh no, my waifu is dead! What am I gonna do!?), Bryce (“Oh, no, my work is too much for me so gotta go drunk instead of solving crimes!”), Anna (“Oh no, I’m was working on a cure for the incurable disease but the rest of the world don’t understand me!”) Maverick (“Oh no, I was good but now my brother is killed so I’m bad”)…. The list goes on, and on, and on. Cliché characters, cliché backstories. Cliché resolutions. Cliché endings. Oh, have I mentioned that the dialogues for them also lack any kind of emotion or characterizations? The second thing is the story. It’s clichéd (what a surprise), there is no murder mystery because the killer is obvious from the very beginning and the police are pathetically useless, and all the pseudo-scientific theory about that each time you make a choice another universe is created… Guys, do you have any idea how much it is overused in visual novels at this point? Also, the game is exceptionally bad at displaying important story scenes (action scenes looks particularly embarrassing), and there is no emotional connection between any of the characters whatsoever (I’m not even talking about some scenes, in particular, that doesn’t make any sense) The graphics in this game isn’t particularly impressive either, all the background art is taken from the public domain, the artwork is just ok, the number of sprites with different emotions as well as illustrations are catastrophically small to really show what’s going on, and the music is also bland despite the involvement of Shinji Hosoe. Not even he was interested in being involved in creating this game. Overall, the quality of the project is pathetically weak, everything is made because the author wanted just to say something, not because he had something to say, and the fact that it’s the first project gives the creators no excuse to let him be in the current state. |