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G SENJOU NO MAOU REVIEW
May as well start with the good parts. The writing style is rather nice, providing better description than the average VN and effectively characterizing the protagonist. Everyone else is also well-characterized, by which I mean they're consistent and just complex enough to be interesting. It's almost a certainty that you'll find one of the heroines to be cute. The story even does something clever once in a while.
As likely as that is to fail (and as often as it probably has), it actually is that epic in G-Senjou no Maou because the plot and characters are wonderfully designed, which by the way while never impossible to ignore, it takes effort (or perhaps a really shitty adolescence) to not let it get in the way of empathizing with the characters and their problems.
With all the unexpected twists and secrets and backstories needed to fill up three whole versions of the story, and arguably then some. Nothing feels unbalanced or forced or predictable, and something new always shows up the moment you thought your victory was certain. This is partly thanks to the fact that having three almost completely different retellings of the story allows every character to shine at least once, and for all of the secrets to come out. Especially in the final route, some of the reveals can truly make you feel the weight of the eons behind them.
As for the plot that allows this to happen, it's nothing all that original, although its told perfectly fine and has the interesting tendency to leave most of the major questions wide open even by the end. This felt consistent and intentional to me, so it turned into a positive by helping one focus on the psychological stuff instead of the plot.
But sadly, it was not perfect this time. Sometimes, there was simply too much unnecessary text between major plot points, or a random link to an amusing but also unnecessary infodump would kill a scene's momentum. Still, although many parts of the game felt like a slog to get to some answers, this never lasted for very long and it always felt worth it since almost every significant question gets an explicit answer somewhere.
"The Bad"
Somewhat it's hard to read, hard to understand, and if you're not a fan of mind screws and metaphysics it may be difficult to even finish this game. But everyone should at least enjoy some of the comedy/action/pseudoscience even if they're not following everything.
Routes/Endings Played: 100%.
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