Update Forty-Eight: 15 September 2017
Lily of the Valley
1.5 hours, 8 of 8 achievements
tsuper review: 6/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Not one of ebi-hime’s best work, this release of Lily of the Valley is a polished rerelease. The VN was originally written for a monthly challenge, and has been re-edited, polished, and has all-new sprites and backgrounds.
ebi-hime is one of my favorite VN publishers on steam - she’s prolific, has a really British-y atmosphere around her work, and partners well with the artist who’s done the majority (not all, but most) of her visual novels, sillyselly. Sillyselly’s art has improved a lot, and her sprites for this game are gorgeous - backgrounds, too!
Unfortunately, this story isn’t… really all that great. The main character is a mope and spends most of the game complaining and romanticizing what appears to be a 15-year-old (the guy is 34) before it’s discovered that the girl is really a grim reaper and she’s here to kill him. There’s some interesting ruminations here and there about life and such in that vein, and by the end the game supports what I consider my own personal philosophy. To quote Night in the Woods - ‘I believe in a universe that doesn’t care, and in people that do.’ The overall effect, however, is kind of navel-gazey.
The VN does do something interesting, which is another thing ebi-hime likes to do - mess with the limitations of Ren’py (the visual novel engine) itself. One you finish the game, both endings, and the epilogue, you can’t play the game anymore. The protagonist has died, and his story has died with him. I appreciate this thematic finality.
It’s short and unimpressive. I won’t dissuade anyone against it, but it’s not for me.
Next up: Holy shit! RNGesus speaks! Guys I can now absolutely guilt-free play -
See you soon!
Help I accidentally read the spoiler tags without me noticing they were spoilers help, that’s allright I guess.
I don’t own this version but I have the original version of Lily of the valley that came out some years ago and it was free, and yet I’ve still got to read it :/
FATA MORGANA
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YOU ARE GOING TO PLAY FATA MORGANA
I’m having an emotion.
we’ll need to talk about it
Oh noo, I’m sorry about the inadvertant spoiling - though it’s not a big huge crazy plot twist.
I absolutely can’t wait to talk about it! I’ve heard only stellar things, and I was impressed even just looking at the store page even before I heard wonderful word of mouth. I know little about it except the art is beautiful and it’s good - I love going into things blind.
Don’t worry about the spoiler, I’ll probably forget it in 2 days time lol
I recently bought the Fata Morgana artbook from Japan and I can’t wait to receive it! I’ll post some photos.
Wait until you hear the music!! I don’t know if you own the soundtrack too, but it’s definitely worth it and I’ll now just shut up otherwise I am going to write another ode to Fata Morgana
someone stop meHoly shit, you were not kidding about the soundtrack. Do they ALL have superb vocalists?
Yeah I’m definitely gonna pick up this OST. It’s sumptuous - the entire game is so plush. I am pumped for this journey.
There are like five different composers, every door has a different style of music, many of them are vocalized.
I’m so happy you started this ^_^
I’m halfway through the second door and, Giselle, holy fuck. I’m so happy I started this, too!
Now I’m just #stressed because I doubt anybody will get a happy ending. I am thrilled to be on this ride, though!