Da Capo 4

[Vegard Aune]

...Well a few days after that announcement they still haven't really properly told us what it is, but they did reveal that... the director is different from the base game. Which to me at least casts some doubt on the idea that it is, in fact, the same game, because if it's just the same game with some slight tweaks, why would they need a new director? That said, preorders are apparently starting on the 30th so by then we should know what it is.

Anyway I've been playing the base game pretty extensively. I'm not 100% there yet in terms of being able to easily play untranslated visual novels but I'd say I'm grasping, like, at least 80% and there's really only been like one or two cases where a scene has played out and I wasn't entirely sure what was being conveyed in it. Having now cleared six routes and started Arisu's, I feel like I can fairly confidently start giving some opionions on the game as a whole... So excuse me while I just start doing a whole bunch of rambling thoughts that can kinda be considered a review of the game up until this point.

Spoiler for A whole bunch of rambling thoughts that can kinda be considered a review of the game up until this point.:

Prologue and common route is rough. Like, the prologue goes on for a good five hours without any sort of player decisions until the very, very end, and the one choice you do get only affects the scene immediately following it. The common route also kinda shares that problem of taking an unreasonably long time to get to where you can actually choose where to go, and I feel like a lot of the mandatory scenes feel like padding or could have been made optional just to give some more sense that you are actually in control of what you're doing. Like, how many breakfast scenes at the Tokisaka household did we really need? And then when you finally do get to start making choices as to where to go, there's only like four decision points in the entire common route to begin with.

It does pick up a lot after finishing that though. The "middle route" as they call it branches off into four distinct paths, with each focusing on two heroines except the last one which is just the start of the Arisu route and which is locked off until every other route has been cleared. While on a personal level I feel like these middle routes are largely kind of uneven in that in all of them I found one of the options far more interesting than the other (For the record, Nino >>> Sorane, Hiyori >>> Miu and Shiina >>> Chiyoko), fact is that by this point in the story they do shed a lot of the fluff from the common route and start actually setting up plot- and character-details in earnest. Though... if I'm not mistaken, if one does not enter the Shiina/Chiyoko path here, those two just completely disappear from the game at this point. I mean I guess it's understandable since they aren't part of Ichito's friend group, but it is kinda strange how these two are the only characters who just completely vanish from the game if you don't get their routes.

Then when it gets to the actual individual character routes, from what I've played so far I would say...
Nino > Shiina > Sorane > Hiyori > Miu > Chiyoko. Though I honestly can't say I've outright disliked any of these routes, though I will absolutely criticize Chiyoko's route for its utter lack of substance. I very much feel like she was invented first as a supporting character for Shiina, and then they decided to give her her own route at the last second just because it wouldn't make sense for her to not have one. Miu is also kinda in this boat, though she still comes out somewhat better because her route at least has a plot, even if it is minimal. And then the remaining four routes... all throw some sort of massive curveball to the plot that is certainly interesting, though at the same time I find myself wondering what the eff the writers were on when they came up with this stuff. Like, Da Capo is certainly no stranger to fantasy elements and some pretty out-there concepts, but

Spoiler for Major Shiina route spoiler:

"I am your daughter from the future except it turns out I'm actually from a different dimension entirely meaning that we're not technically related which is good because btw I've fallen madly in love with you" (btw while I do hold her route as one of the best in the game and think it probably has the best pacing out of all of them, this particular element never did stop creeping me out)

feels like a new kind of bizarre. And yet... I cannot deny that these bizarre twists have made these routes very memorable. Hiyori's twist hit decidedly less hard than the others though but that was mostly because... I played Miu's route before hers and that one had the same twist. At the start of the route rather than the end of it. Yet somehow Hiyori's route did far more with the idea even if it established it much, much later.

In terms of characters...
-Hiyori is best girl. Full stop. She was absolutely awesome from her first appearance and while I was in some ways a bit let down by her route, the interactions throughout it were absolutely on-point.
-Shiina is a very close second for me. Prior to playing the game I saw her character description listing her as being a "quiet girl with a bit of a toxic tongue" and I was just like "Well that sounds awesome," and indeed, she did not disappoint. I could watch her deadpan-ly trashtalking Suginami all day. Her interactions with Ichito in the later parts of her route were also ungodly adorable. Quite a shame, then, that the direction her story ended up taking made it much harder for me to fully appreciate her...
-I did not like Nino at first. Though honestly part of that might just stem from me not liking Ichito, and all the elements of his personality that I do not care for being on full display whenever Nino is around. (Mostly I just can't stand just how often he does the "You look so much better with a smile!" thing, just gah stop.) The fact that she's... basically just Nemu for the fourth time also didn't really help. I did finally start to warm up to her when playing through her route though. Which, even before that I was actually still excited for her route because I saw plenty of potential for interesting developments in there, and as I said before I do think it is the best route I've played so far, but... yeah my first impression of her was anything but good.
-Sorane... I liked her route. I thought the direction the plot took there was interesting. But oh my god do I ever just not care for this kind of character. It's not that she's unlikable or anything, the "sweet and caring older sister-type character who is also a superb cook and really good at any other kinds of housework" archetype just bores me to tears.
-Miu is a fairly cute and charming character whose main problem is that she exists constantly in the shadow of Hiyori and basically anyone would look bad in that situation.
-Chiyoko I initially just outright disliked, finding everything about her to basically just scream "Stereotypical teenage girl." Her own route also does next to nothing with her. But... she is actually really good in her supporting role in Shiina's route, which is again what I feel like she was first envisioned for anyway. Still, I think she's kinda just stuck at the bottom of my tier list by default, between not having an interesting route at all nor having really any sort of particularly compelling character traits.

tl;dr: This game is extremely weird but I like it. Excited to see what Arisu's route has in store. Though I have seen some spoilers that have given me at least some idea.

[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.

[Vegard Aune]

(Why am I continuing to post in this thread? It sure doesn't look like anyone else cares at this point.)

Circus posted voice samples on the website. Which confirms that... despite being credited under a different name, Suginami is still 100% Kishio Daisuke. Strange that he would be credited under an alias now when he's just been credited as Kishio Daisuke in every other game in the franchise, all-ages or R18, but really I'm just glad to still have him.

Other than that... Ayumi Sarah's Miu sounds almost identical to Maekawa Ryouko's. That change should be effortless to get used to. Yuuki Honoka's Sorane is also pretty on-point. Kusuhara Yui's Nino and Kanata Sora's Arisu I can quite clearly tell are not the same, but they're not bad, I guess. (Though Touyama Nao is still entirely too perfect as Arisu for me to not feel kinda down about her being recast.)
I am probably going to have a hard time getting used to the new Chiyoko, Hiyori and Shiina however. Out of these three Hiyori is probably the one who sounds the least off to me but... I am entirely too attached to Asumi Kana and Minase Inori's performances.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

...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.

The game is out. And while I have not gone through it super in-depth I have at least spot-checked a lot of the things I was hoping for and...

...it did none of them. Not a single one. Other than the addition of H-scenes (that all play at the very, very end of their respective routes) and new voice actors, the game appears to be exactly the same as it was. I mean, the last point I asked for would require me to clear every route before I could even check, but considering that the game does not appear to have any other new art assets outside of the H-scenes I see no reason why they would now give that character a proper sprite.