A while ago I made a post about the prologue's CG composition, how the CGs are all are dutch angles, but there's another detail I forgot to mention there that the Chapter 1 demo breaks: the rule of thirds.
(putting a cut bc this gets a little long esp with images)
The rule of thirds is basically a composition theory that claims every canvas can be split into thirds horizontally and vertically, and that people find composition most pleasing if the main focus lands on intersecting lines, and that people's attention is naturally drawn to those intersecting lines. Aside from the ending CG (most likely because of the amount of characters in it), all CGs in the prologue follow that rule pretty closely:
Heads and hands tend to fall near the intersecting lines, putting focus on facial expression and gesture.
For facial expressions, Kuras has a warm but distant look, Leander is not looking at MC but the Adders, Vere wears a cool, mischievous smile, Ais reveals almost nothing but watches closely, and Mhin's expression is closed off and their face covered in blood.
For gestures (which I rambled about a bit in the tags of this post), Kuras is holding papers, the text of which we cannot see, Leander has his magic lilies, Vere has MC's room key, Ais is keeping his hand close, and Mhin's is reaching out with a bloodied hand.
All of this sets up what to expect from the beginnings of their routes: Kuras is fascinated by MC's nature but is emotionally closed off and is keeping several secrets, Leander is not being completely genuine because he's performing for others so often, Vere keeps giving MC reason to seek him out because he's curious about what they are, Ais conceals his struggles with Ocudeus and pushes MC away because of it, and Mhin wants to be close but to do that would mean danger for MC.
Now, for the Chapter 1 demo. Most CGs do continue the pattern:
Mhin's and Leander's keep focus on facial expression and gesture, Vere's keeps focus on expression, and Ais' instead highlights Ocudeus' tentacles emerging from his tattoo.
Their CGs all subvert the original impressions of their prologue CGs.
In Mhin's CG, they are clutching themselves while covered in their own blood. The complete subversion shows the difference between Mhin's presentation and the reality: they appear dangerous and like they could hurt MC, but they themselves are in severe danger and in need of help.
Leander's gaze is still turned to an Adder. Instead of entertaining him, however, he is branding the Adder and looking completely indifferent to his screams. Leander went from a charismatic entertainer offering a delicate, fleeting flower to a hardened leader burning his followers so they prove loyalty. Neither impression of Leander is wrong- they are simply two sides to him, both of which he turns on at will.
In the prologue, he held MC's key, but now Vere is locked up. He still has confidence about him, but it's not the same air of control he held in the prologue. And his expression isn't fixed, it changes. It's hinted in the prologue that Vere is very physically expressive and hides it, but giving him different expressions in a CG really shows how important it is to watch his body language. The CG also changes the meaning of him stealing MC's key and marking them: he needs MC to seek him out because he's trapped. If he doesn't give MC a reason, he wouldn't ever be able to find out what they are.
Finally, the focus of Ais' CG isn't Ais. It's Ocudeus. In the prologue Ais took up almost the entire frame. While you can still see tentacles behind him, they weren't demanding attention. Now, Ocudeus is taking up almost all of the frame while Ais is off to the side. Ais has a powerful presence and seems very in control, but Chapter 1 is the reveal that his control is slipping away from him as Ocudeus takes root deeper inside of him.
But Ais' chapter has 4 CGs in total, and the one remaining that stars Ais breaks the rule of thirds that Touchstarved normally follows:
The moment it hits MC that they aren't dealing with Ais anymore, but Ocudeus.
The other CGs breaking the rule of thirds are Kuras':
The moment MC realizes that Kuras isn't a human.
In his prologue CG, he's off to the side. Not demanding too much attention. But in the Chapter 1 demo, he's front and center. His act of being a human doctor is broken when MC touches him, and he reveals just how fascinated he is by MC, not just because something about their soul or heart is different, but from a scientific angle they are unlike anything he's ever seen.
Instead of following the rule of thirds, the subjects are centered and demanding attention from the player.
In both cases, the subjects are not only Monsters. They are divine and do not belong to the mortal world.
If following the rule of thirds establishes what is 'normal', then breaking it establishes what is beyond.
Their presence is the only thing you are allowed to focus on in their CGs. Unlike in Vere's CG, where he is looking at the player but his gaze is indirect at the player, Ocudeus and Kuras are looking completely at MC and the player. It breaks the fourth wall and makes the player feel as seen as MC does.
As for MC... they have the full attention of divine beings. And in Eridia, attention is the last thing anyone wants.
Club Suicide review and ranking of the routes (with spoilers)
This game came to me as a gift, considering it’s tailored exactly to my tastes and I feel like will resonate well with neurodivergent and LGBT people who struggled with suicidal thoughts, loneliness and feeling like outcasts in society. I didn’t expect to get so attached to all the cast considering I almost always fixate on only one or two characters in otome games. This time, I adore everyone and this game will be hard to beat for my favorite spot as I play other games of the genre in the future.
I’ll be ranking the routes here and sharing thoughts about what I appreciated and what I think could’ve been done better (they’re all good though, which is impressing). Feel free to disagree, since personal taste will always be one of the criterias for how you engage with character stories.
🏅Eba Zaizen (S)
positives
>impactful, heartwarming and tragic all at once
>character’s torment and irrational thoughts are very well written
>terrific endings that leave a lasting impression (both bad and good)
>beautiful bonding moments with the main character
>very interesting reflection about the creative process, external pressure and sense of value
>sparks a reflection about how we judge where suicidal thoughts come from and who “gets” to have them
negatives
>none
🥈Finale route (A+)
positives
>beautiful conclusion and resolution to the cast in Ending 22
>”power of friendship” done well and realistically
>character progressions unique from their individual routes
>highlight of the cast’s voice acting
>we get to see the characters bond with each other
>seems like the quiessential route
negatives
>choice intent and dual route system can be confusing
>wrong vs right choices don’t have that many weight on the characters immediate reactions and change of viewpoint except from an ending progression, stakes could’ve been better
(and not exactly a negative but would’ve loved an expansion of their future after the good ending, like a future reunion)
🥉Tsuzuri’s route (A)
positives
>mystery surrounding his figure is unraveled as you explore the endings, we get this feeling that we’re uncovering a secret
>makes us question what is real about him and what is not
>amazing endings
>beautiful character exploration
>lots of content
>has enough bonding to keep us interested while at the same time making it clear that we can’t have it all (since tsuzuri is a “doomed” character)
>ANGST
negatives
>protagonist’s internal monologues can be repetitive and even redundant, sometimes to the point of exhaustion
>a few reflections and conclusions about society and life are a bit too simple in contrast to their flourished writing and the heights we already experienced in other routes
>purple prose
(not exactly a negative again, but i wish we got to see his goodbye video)
4-Shiki (A-)
positives
>adorable bonding and cute romance
>impactful endings that don’t shy away from making him a complex figure when it comes to the morality of his actions
>character’s backstory is consistent with his present attitude and viewpoint
>adorable good ending (and alternative ending)
>good balance between character progression, protagonist reflections, bonding times and tragic events
negatives
>shiki comes to term with crucial faults of his own better in the finale route instead of his own individual route (though you could see this just as a natural flow of the game since it’s the route that ties it all together)*
>wish we got more pressing conversations between the protagonist and shiki outside of bad endings and wrong choices
>the theme of hypersexuality could’ve been explored further
>needs a biit of suspension of disbelief when it comes to how his ways change with ringo’s interference
5- Meiyo (B+)
positives
>UNEXPECTED EXPLICIT QUEER REPRESENTATION
>amazing good ending + lovely future insight
>consistent bad endings
>liked the parallel between the book ringo finds and her bond with meiyo > how we use their hobby to understand them
>leaves a nice, suspenseful hook to the secret route in the good ending future insight
>route leaves space for the player to make their own conclusions about the character while at the same time exploring them
negatives
>seemed like it couldn’t decide if it wanted it to be romantic or not (mostly in the alternative good ending)
>at times, can be progressive and yet, regressive at the same time (though i’m aware this comes from a cultural factor)
>sometimes has a purple prose (can be due to translation)
>meiyo’s backstory weirdly didn’t seem fully fleshed out for such a complex character, the character’s struggle with morality and possible dysphoria in light of the relationship with their father seemed a bit out of sync when they could be united to then, naturally progress to their gender transition in the good ending
6-Mitsuki (B)
positives
>very relatable route and touching when it came to my own struggles
>we get to see his family dynamic and a perspective on his personality from a third point of a view
>as funny as it can be grim
>plays with our first impression of the character and how he is revealed bit by bit
>nice good endings
negatives
>felt like the bad endings (except from one) didn’t leave that much of an impression compared to those from the other routes
>the character’s violent nature could’ve been touched upon further in link with the topics of male socialization, gender and past trauma, especially for a character who is defined by his sense of justice (even more considering how he lectures shiki about exploitation of women in the finale route)
>the clash with his former bully was quite rushed in terms of how fast she caved in
>start and middle of the route are significantly better than its final moments
7-Masaya (B-)
positives
>interesting clash between the protagonist’s views on expression and masaya’s
>bad endings were brutal enough to be effective and not get into misery exploitation territory
>nice slice of life vibes
>good endings (and alt endings) are lovely
>overall a solid route
negatives
>feels a bit superficial in comparison to the other routes
>a tad bit repetitive with his food quirk gag
>we see more of his emotional world in the finale route than here (*same as what i said abt shiki)
>needed more emotional weight, push and pulls and layers apart from the bad endings (even though i love the relaxing moments)
Virche evermore: disappointment and expectations with visual novels Part 1 (cw: spoilers)
This is not just about criticism, but a bit of a rant post after I dedicated my time to this loaded baggage of a game that is highly regarded by most people within the Otome game community. I’ll not focus on the issues with the sci-fi aspect being inconsistent and a bit absurd, since it’s already been well discussed
The visual novel genre doesn’t always flourish outside of its limitations of text exposition and constrained structure. Of course it doesn’t mean that someone is less for enjoying these games (as I enjoy it too), neither does it mean that a visual novel is inherently bad. That said, I have no tolerance for inconsistent and lazy writing at all, in regards to this game specially, in which the lack of a well-constructed and developed romance couldn’t sustain it for me.
The thing with Virche Evermore goes beyond the irritating problem that VNs have of utilizing flashbacks, text exposition (through the MC’s thoughts and actions) to hold the hand of the player. It gets to the point of sweeping the floor with a bloodied mop, over and over again.
From the start, Virche presents itself as a tragedy-fueled game that expects its players to go through many trials and tribulations to get their expected happy ending. You have to experience all the unpleasant (and sometimes overwritten and redundant) main bad endings, unlock routes and endings in a way that is specific to the game, and not just the common playthrough you go through with the average otoge. That alone is not a bad thing, it is in tune with the tone of the game being this scorching melodrama.
But, it starts to crumble when the game fails to deliver a convincing tragedy, running on wishful thinking that the player (most will, considering the reception) will react to the tragic events accordingly simply because they exist as heavy, cruel and “tear-inducing”.
One major example is in Lucas’s route, where the narrative insists on throwing as many absurd and gritty events as possible to keep the player engaged, unblinking.
Even before the main tragedy of the bad ending strikes, the bond between Ceres and Lucas is set aside to fill in the obligatory yandere trope of “caged heroine”, which would be interesting if it wasn’t so sloppy — a necessity and not an actual impactful event that serves to illustrate Lucas character and actually explore the dynamic of teacher-student that has been changed by this revelation.
It is extremely disappointing considering that Lucas is such an interesting character being born from this dual nature of manipulated villain and faith-bearing teacher. His thoughts of struggle and inner push and pull seem merely like an afterthough, a glimpse within other, more developed routes (in terms of content). At certain moments, he is simply reduced to the flimsy storyline of Bourreau, as being this constant tool to block the other characters ways with his strength.
Regarding the biggest, nail-in-the-coffin route: Le salut, we find a major issue with trying to twist the players expectations and frustrate them by prolonguing reveals and shocks. Meddling with the player’s reaction is not a sin by itself — it’s natural, but doing so in the same pattern of “now everything is working- oop, I was kidding, keep the tragedy going!” only makes for a shallow “gotcha!” moment. Even worse knowing that this is not something that is inherent to this route, but is present everywhere in the game (only here, it’s more obvious)
Considered one of the biggest reveals in the game —to finally expand Ankou as a character, ends up as a nulification of his character
We already had clues of Ankou and Adolphe being one entity considering that they share a route and start exhibiting the same powers of “immortality”. Ankou starts to gradually seem more human, showing that being a “Watchman of death” is merely a facade. One would expect the game to expand on his weakness as a character of his own, but this expectations is thrown out of the window when this revelation happens.
Suddenly, everything is an addition to Adolphe’s thin struggle with normalcy, to give him a layer of absurdity that was needed to keep this game’s tone. Except, the best thing about Adolphe’s character was that his distinguished normalcy as an outsider (that even reflects on his design) made him actually, stand out with a different sense of morality. This merging only kills the possibility of fleshing out Ankou as the ethereal mystery that stands out amongst the other characters, a characterization that goes well with gothic tragedy.
By denying the player to have Ankou as a character and not an extension of another, the game hinders this established force, this mythology. And as an otome game, frustrates those invested in Ankou’s personality and distinct charm
vent post abt TS fans on reddit (ch 1 spoilers mentioned)
So obviously now that chapter 1 preview is out, there’s a bit more discussion about the content within it and people’s opinions on it. It’s allowed that people can have thoughts and feelings on it - ch 1 preview is a form of media that’s meant to be engaged with.
But what really has me stewing is the fact that some people on Reddit said they were going to email the developers and express their concerns. Some of the comments on patreon had a similar feeling or were overtly this way.
If you’re a fan of the game, I’d hope you want it to come out. And let’s just look at it practically - if the developers make 2-6% progress on writing each month, voice lines are fully recorded for some routes, and art is established for later on in the story, it’s just absolutely crazy to ask for or expect major overhauls of what we’ve seen in chapter 1. Visual novels are like trees anyway - altering chapter 1 in significant ways would send cascading edits throughout their entire work thus far, even to the point of impacting later CGs and re-recording voice lines. The devs have spent months editing and writing the chapters. I can say that ofc it’s reasonable there are changes that people might prefer or wish for - I think that’s natural for any game. But just because people want a change doesn’t mean it should be made or is practical for it to be made.
Also, a common critique is about the pacing. IMO, part of why the pacing might be faster is that literally the scope of the plot is a lot larger than plenty of other otome/amare games. The devs planned to have 5 chapters for each character. Think logically about the path each character is on.
Vere is escaping the Senobium at night through shadow form (?) and has been plotting how to leave the Senobium for like 100 years. Kuras is strong enough to raze the city to the ground and like, shatter heaven. Ais is being overtaken by a god (?) who may try and seize control over the city. Mhin’s been investigating the shroud and traveling through time(?). Leander’s being himself. LIKE. The game isn’t going to be a slow burn romance where it takes a long time to hold hands because things need to get moving to reach a satisfying conclusion on these plot points in only 5 chapters. The characters need to fall in love with mc, have a personally and possibly world shattering conflict, and then resolve it. We can’t waste time blushing while peering at each other from beneath our lashes.
ALSO, 4/5, possibly 5 out of 5 characters are fairly sexual people. Ais, Leander and Vere all go without saying. But even Mhin has hooked up with Leander for example, and Kuras has dated plenty in the past. MC is absolutely thrilled to have someone they can touch without fear of irrevocably damaging them - and they can touch plenty of the LIs. if we go canonically, it doesn’t make that much sense to me for the physicality of the relationship to lag behind that much. Maybe it’s not what YOU would do, but the Touchstarved devs have a vision for the MC and the game as a whole - and importantly, many constraints that they’re working under.
I don’t think the devs are faultless or something, but it’s like. 1) be realistic about what changes can be made at this point 2) understand that we have a much more narrow view of the characters and the plot 3) the devs are working very hard to create something that both fans would enjoy and represents their artistic vision, and it doesn’t feel that appreciated to me.
Sure, there are changes that I would make if I was an editor for the game. And I think that probably the devs should announce a second delay, because following the percentage progress, I don’t think they’re on track to release this this year unless things start progressing faster.
But like emailing the devs about your issues with the game and requesting specific changes just feels so entitled to me idk. Ppl reading this might say - “it’s not entitled, I paid money so they should create the product that I want.” ok, but it’s not a personalized, made-to-order meal. If you read a book or watch a movie and don’t like it, it’s inappropriate to go to the creator and demand they make changes until you approve, even though u bought the novel or paid a ticket.
Also there’s risk inherent to backing smth on kickstarter - the game not coming out at all, totally shifting in direction, etc. paying money there literally is just like “I want these creators to be able to attempt this idea.” IMO, if someone going to be very specific and nitpicky about execution, they’re not the type of person who should be backing things in advance. If they care that specifically about the end product, they should wait for it to actually exist and make sure it meets their various standards before spending anything. Unless you’re paying for the backing tiers where you are allowed to help shape the game, your money only entitles you to receive the product that is created.
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