#1 by himesamaa
2022-01-31 at 00:42 | < report >I love the VN, personally, because it's a comfortable, easy, and heartwarming read... I really liked the way you grow up with the characters. I understand why you weren't invested, though.
One thing that's noticeable is that Our Life doesn't really have a grand, epic story full of twists and turns. The game revolves on growing up with the kids of the neighborhood and having fun during summer.
The writing itself isn't anything impressive... not that it needs to be, anyway. The moments are only short snippets and in my opinion the game should have been longer, so we could connect with the characters even more. (Well, there is DLC, but I don't have them). I often wanted the moments to last more than ~30 minutes. I suppose you're more of a person who enjoys stories where you get to know the characters deeply and really take in what's happening. I guess that due to Our Life's open-ended nature, where you get to influence how things go, the MC and the hero aren't as fleshed out as they could be. If that makes sense.
There IS character development, of course, but as said before, I wanted to see more of everything and everyone. I believe you can complete a playthrough quickly. I don't read VNs in one sitting, so I took a few days.
Also, there are no stakes, you literally cannot "lose" and get a bad end, I believe. It's a feel-good VN through and through. Maybe you wanted more drama or even a little action, to shake things up. The writers took care to not put anything that would upset the audience - the goal here was to make something that was accessible, nostalgic and joyful. For some readers, it may be their first VN ever.
Another detail that may have contributed to your opinion is the fact that the romance between the love interest and MC is pretty innocent and kind of subtle (though if you have the Patreon bonus, there are NSFW scenes). Other VNs are more in-your-face in regards to love and romance, and have the characters constantly acting on sexual feelings.
In my experience, it seemed like a lot of choices didn't mean much and were there just for show, though I appreciated that. My playthroughs involved my MC having a crush on the hero. I wanted to be polite and kind, and it seemed like he was developing an interest in me no matter what I did. Perhaps I should try being a bit more indifferent/rude to him the next time I read this (don't know when that will be, I'm almost finishing the game for the second time, so I'll take a break).Last modified on 2022-01-31 at 02:07 |