“それは、とてもちいさな

とてもおおきな

とてもたいせつな

あいとゆうきのおとぎばなし”


muv-luv alternative is considered an all-time classic in the visual novel medium, and after reading it for myself, i can clearly see why it has that reputation

even though it still has a couple flaws (lots of exposition, infodumps, and having a pretty slow start), none of these took away from the feeling of satisfaction and happiness that I felt for the characters at the end of the game. it was a pleasure seeing takeru’s character develop as he underwent the countless cruel trials that the universe threw at him. i was proud of how much he had grown from an average high school boy to a fine ace TSF pilot at the end of his journey

all of the main characters were sublime, and the music was outstanding. this tale of love and bravery must be read by every visual novel fan…

heroine ranking: sumika = meiya > chizuru = kei = kasumi > miki > mikoto

extra is a pretty good moege for what it’s worth, and it surprisingly has a lot of foreshadowing for what’s to come in the BETAverse. going back to it after finishing alternative makes one really appreciate how precious peace really is and how much we take it for granted…

unlimited on the other hand just felt like a very long prologue for alternative in my opinion. its main purpose is to establish the initial world-building for the BETA universe. the different routes in unlimited don’t really have any effect on the outcome of the story unlike the routes in extra, which led to entirely different stories much like you would see in standard moege.

both of them do a good job of making you care for the characters and creating the foundation for what’s to come in alternative…