[Vegard Aune]

D.C.4 P.H. is officially confirmed to definitely be "Da Capo 4, Plus H-scenes."

Also I finished the game. Honestly... reaching 100% completion kinda lowered my opinion on the game as a whole because I can now safely say that there are several things the game sets up and just never goes anywhere with, like,

Spoiler for Nino route spoilers:

Why did Ichito dream of Nemu, a person he does not know and has no apparent connection whatsoever to?

or

Spoiler for Arisu route:

What was up with that scene where Ichito and Arisu are on a date in Wonderland and then Ichito notices Alice giving him an ominous glare?

I kinda figured these things would get explained somehow but they just... didn't. Also since the game kind of "paired" up routes, like Nino and Sorane are a pair, Hiyori and Miu are a pair etc... Nino and Sorane would be the only pairing where I'd say both routes feel equally meaty. Meanwhile Miu and Chiyoko feel entirely like afterthoughts to Hiyori and Shiina respectively, and

Spoiler for The Arisu route has a bit of a split that is kinda comparable in a way I guess:

Arisu's route really does not compare to Arisa's in the least... made all the more apparent by the fact that the game literally forces you to do Arisa first. Really made the whole experience end on a bit of a whimper. Also I feel like Sorane's bad ending was legit much more satisfying than her good end which was literally just "Oh things were about to turn tragic but I fixed it off-screen because I know magic now so it's fine."

...So things I would like to see touched up in P.H. because I can't imagine it's literally the exact same game with added H-scenes because the game as it exists now barely even allows for them:

Spoiler for Things. Spoilery things.:

-Please give Hajimari no Kiseki a revamp. While the first two openings also kinda suffer from reusing the exact same images, it's better than Hajimari no Kiseki being literally nothing but repeated slow pans over the key visual coupled with one or two CGs of each character... Even the video quality is worse than the first two openings for crying out loud!

-Please give us an insert song. I mean I guess the prologue technically has the new arrangement of Kimi ni Sasageru Ai no Mahou but that barely counts. I sorely miss my Sad Scene Songs.

-Perhaps an unreasonable request but I would be very pleased if Arisu, Miu and Chiyoko's routes could be made a bit more substantial. Especially the last one. Arisu and Miu suffer from comparatively little plot. Chiyoko suffers from absolutely no plot at all.

-Also perhaps an unreasonable request but new sprites for the returning characters would also be nice. Those 20-year-old sprites from the first game do not really blend with the artstyle of this one at all.

-...I want to see Miharu. Properly, not as just a heavily cropped image on a screen that is still recognizably her old sprite.

...Ultimately there was still enough to like in the game that I can't claim I regret playing it. Like, I really liked Arisu, Hiyori and Shiina's characters and while I was not crazy about Nino or Sorane's personalities I thought their routes were really strong... Just a shame that ultimately the end felt like it did not quite deliver. Nino and Shiina still had ultimately the best routes I think.