Just finished Lucia's route, I feel like I was put through bliss and then tortured. The romantic scenes with Lucia are so sweet and she is so adorable. She makes Furukawa Nagisa seem assertive when it concerns love. One scene from her route put me in complete bliss, if you had asked me whether this game was worth buying after that scene, I would have told you that this game was a definite must buy. I actually found myself fearing the time when this route would end, Lucia was such a fun character, if you could get "too attached" to a character I definitely think I did. I thought that not having her around would leave a void.
That feeling didn't last very long though, after that brilliant scene they turned the rest of the route into one of the ugliest stories I've ever read. Right now, I don't really know whether I can even say I like this game yet. It's definitely a good game that will keep you entertained. But entertained like a gory story similar to Elfen Lied. For me, there's just too much politics, action, and so many ugly scenes. I really liked past Key games for not just their entertainment value, but because I felt their stories were so beautiful and artistic. I like my entertainment to be fun and sweet or sad and meaningful. I am really conflicted, because Lucia's has the prettiest character design and the most lovable personality I've yet to see in a Key game. There were indeed a lot of fun and meaningful parts. But so much junk too, I like to be able to "Understand" a character, but this story is so abnormal... It sucks to have a character you like thrown into such a horrific storyline. Anyone looking to buy this game, be forewarned, the main routes go 100% sci-fi/action/suspense, for the majority of the routes. I wouldn't recommend this game for drama/romance much like I wouldn't recommend Clannad/Little Busters for someone wanting a comedy. The sci-fi plot/action/suspense/intrigue withholding one romantic scene is it's strong point so far from the common routes IMHO.
Time to get detailed.
Spoiler for Lucia's Route:
The common route involving Lucia was the most fun I had in this game yet, how they could go from that to a ghost story, to romance, to world destruction and back to romance though... I felt like I was being thrown around like a rag doll between the genres. Still, I accepted the bio-reengineering past of Lucia and enjoyed that date like no other date scene. After all, what more could you want from a visual novel then to see the heroine blush from saying/hearing affectionate things while having her wishes granted? Such a beautiful scene. I wish the rest of the route was like that. I wish that Lucia would have remembered all the oaths they made together and believed in them more in order to avoid disaster.
I really liked Lucia's personality as it is first portrayed. Her cleanliness, her seriousness, her sense of duty, and her strength to stand alone. However, all of this was just a result of her circumstances. Her characteristics were forced on her. Which really made me question whether her "personality" was even genuine... Once in awhile I had to think, is this the real Lucia? All of these quirks were tied to plot devices... And then she was breaking glass and threatening people. Still she didn't do anything that bad yet, she really couldn't be blamed... Anyways, you are who you are, and damn, Lucia is too cute too hate when she is with Koutaro. Even though she killed her nurse, it was all an accident. She really didn't have any control over anything. So whatever, up until the end of the date scene, the route was fun, the character was fun.
And then it was like an elephant took a big catastrophic dump on her route. Lucia had her wish granted and she finally found a mutual love that accepted her. Despite this she would throw it all away. It's as if everything she said before was a lie. It is heartbreaking and from a story standpoint meaningless to have to have a heroine sully herself by being responsible for so many deaths. From the self-hatred for killing her nurse, she didn't learn a thing. Bastards, it's one thing to kill a character off, it's another thing to make a character that's loved into an evil villain. As if that wasn't enough she becomes a friend and lover killer. It would be really interesting to know why the writers did this, did they do it just to be original? Just to be unpredictable? If they are writing for the enjoyment of the readers, it seems to me they will only be satisfying sadists with this move...
I honestly laughed out loud when Koutaro broke Lucia's blade and "Saved" her. I really hated them for doing this, because they already ruined her character, the romantic scene at the end was just comedic, a farce. If they hadn't chosen to make such an ugly story and to have an action scene, they could have had a perfect romantic story. But after all that, after showing how stupid Koutaro is for not being able to tell her that he needs her sooner (I was hoping for this to happen any second since during the middle of the date) and after Lucia tries to kill her best friend and Koutaro, they have the gall to make this into a true love story. You saved her, but she killed an entire city, would have killed you and her friends, it feels like Koutaro failed her. Such a bitter ending, and the cgs of her are so beautiful! It's such a shame to have such a sweet romance, and such beautiful art, be sullied by such an ugly storyline.
Ugly is perhaps too strong of a word, I maybe just finished reading too soon. It is less than ideal though.
By the way, there were a couple of discrepancies, one of them way that Lucia says that she feels human warmth for the first time when Koutaro hugs her. But her sensei who died already conveyed human touch and warmth to her. Plus she had buried her head in Shizuru's chest when confessing about wanting to make up with Chihaya. There was some other other unrelated discrepencies too...
After playing through all the heroine routes, I really must say, that I will hesitate to purchase the next key game. I was afraid of the shonen-action, turns out that was the least of my worries. The staff is competent, the game is interesting, but the genres they focus on now, are no longer special to me. So far this game has been like reading a Stephen King book, it was interesting and I couldn't put it down. But it was largely entertainment for entertainment's sake. I think that is an honest opinion. I will definitely finish up the main routes though, maybe I will have something different to say.
Ah, Lucia's last CG is so pretty! All of the artwork is so pretty, they really don't make any graphics for any of the gory stuff. All of the graphics are of the heroines, but so much attention gets drawn away from the heroines. With the plot, it's like constantly having an ugly main route fly in your face during the heroine routes... Ahh, I wouldn't miss the politics, I would miss the artwork though...