3 months late (because I wrote it, then forgot about it until today - I could've posted it as is, but I wanted to expand it and I did), but!! Better late than never!! I knew people said it's amazing, but I sure didn't expect how epic it actually was. How long was it with and without combat?? It was pretty long. I haven't read/played "Steins;Gate" myself (will do so someday), but from the bits and pieces I know, isn't this story pretty close to the essence of the original game/story?? Anyway, here's my full late review (?): Read more
First of all, the UI is pretty nice, the style was changed to fit "Steins;Gate" aesthetics. Even the text box changed when it's from Okabe's point of view. I especially love how the missions look and how the rewards look like a vending machine. Also, the flip phone (taken from the visual novel) is so cool!
As for the story...as a fan of the genre and tropes, having consumed plenty of similar time travel stories, the story is nothing groundbreaking. One can even see what's coming at times (honestly, what else do you expect from a time travel story? Or did I know a bit too much about "Steins;Gate"??), but still, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The familiar genre and tropes were executed well with a relatively good pace and fun writing that flows smoothly. It's pretty long, too, much to my surprise. What do you mean this is a collab event in a gacha game?? It can stand as its own story.
It's so well-done, you don't have to be familiar with "Steins;Gate" to enjoy it (though of course, if you're familiar, you'll get more enjoyment). Perhaps "Steins;Gate" fans can even enjoy it without knowing "Neural Cloud". It took its time to introduce the setting and characters, the good dose of comedy never making it boring. The fun banters between characters give insight into their relationships and personalities, making you care for them even a bit. That makes the sudden mood shift all the more painful, punching you in the guts, even though I expected and even hoped for it.
The mood whiplash - from a merry cafe to Oasis in ruins due to Entropy attack and Kurisu's subsequent death - is indeed sudden. One blink and suddenly, the entire world changed. But then, as though we're detectives, we (along with the characters) got to retrace the steps and found out what happened. It was brewing behind the scenes without us knowing all this time - a disaster waiting to happen, and happen it did.
That's when the time travel kicks in - to fix what went wrong: the Entropy's attack on Oasis and Kurisu's death. This being "Steins;Gate", the time travel has its own set of rules and restrictions, which is very interesting. That means one has to be smart to go about it. In time travel stories, there's usually something unavoidable in all/most timelines, and that is explained here. Everything about the time travel feels scientific-ish, which is only natural as it is part of "Science Adventure" series. Thankfully, they aren't hard to understand here. The rules and limitations also presented more problems the characters have to tackle. The stakes are high and the problems only keep piling up - they got a lot of work to do.
As if all the futile attempts and loops - seeing Kurisu dying from increasingly ridiculous reasons, as though the world wants her dead no matter what - weren't enough, Okabe soon found a horrifying discovery: in a timeline where Mayuri wasn't around, Kurisu was fine. One of them had to die for the other one to stay alive. What a cruel fate and choice to make.
Mayuri sacrificed herself, but of course, that is not the end. Far from it, the story began anew here. An arguably even worse future came: Mayuri leading the Entropy attack as opposed to Riko (Riko being Entropized was a nice surprise, by the way). Not only did they have to kill her now, Okabe had to see his childhood friend suffer unimaginable pain and lose herself. Whatever he chose, his friends will suffer. There is no right answer.
Of course, A "fix it" time travel story isn't complete without a healthy dose of suffering and descent into madness from all the futile attempts and loops. As a lover of such things, I am pleased by how the story presented them, especially the madness.
Naturally, despite sinking into despair, Okabe managed to stand back up and refused to give in to fate. He and Professor racked their brains to concoct a plan, a way to save both Oasis and the 2 girls, to reach a world line where nobody had to die. Keeping the visual novel nature of "Steins;Gate", there are 2 endings here. This can be easily done thanks to the roguelike mechanics of the game, and I really love that. If you somehow got the bad ending the first and second time, you get to experience a bit of Okabe's despair and madness. Very fun!
Ultimately, the way to achieve their desired world line and outcome is to trick the world. It's wild, yet it makes sense. It's smart and very exciting. Professor got a chance to take the spotlight in the action for once, showing off the result of Python's training to be able to survive Faith's attacks, though not without close calls and injuries. I'm glad Professor could shine too in the end. Very badass!
When their plan succeeded and they finally reached their desired world line, it's hard to not smile. At long last, everyone is alive and happy. It's a cathartic end to such a long and harsh journey. They earned their happy ending. What an epic story.
And thus, we loop back to the beginning of my review: isn't this story pretty close to the essence of the visual novel's story?? Of course, many things changed, such as the setting, and it might as well be shortened/condensed, but certain key events, plot and emotional beats remain the same (if you know, you know). One might think that's lazy, but I think it's an amazing feat. It also proves how good and effective the concept and emotional beats of "Steins;Gate" are, to remain gut-punching even in another setting entirely.
The story focused on Kurisu at first before moving on to Mayuri. I'm sure the game wanted to try to balance the 2 girls, and I think it did a pretty good job on that front, but...aren't there too many CGs of Mayuri?? She has 3 - as the final boss, dying as the final boss, and lying in a crate in the end of the true/golden ending. There's also a CG of when she's young, which I assume was taken from the original visual novel. In comparison, Kurisu only has 1, namely her death scene. Or did I miss something??
Still, my point stands: this is one hell of an epic collab event story.
EXTRA
Entropized Riko is cool:
Other CGs:
I love me some 4th wall breaks (there are a lot of good lines here, I had to refrain from screenshotting them all):
I didn't know Kamie is a fellow fujoshi comrade...I'm sorry!! I was not familiar with your game. If I had known, I'd have rolled you! Well, I should due to Dupin anyway, but I was worried about my savings back then. I'll try to get you later!! Fold
3 months late (because I wrote it, then forgot about it until today - I could've posted it as is, but I wanted to expand it and I did), but!! Better late than never!! I knew people said it's amazing, but I sure didn't expect how epic it actually was. How long was it with and without combat?? It was pretty long. I haven't read/played "Steins;Gate" myself (will do so someday), but from the bits and pieces I know, isn't this story pretty close to the essence of the original game/story?? Anyway, here's my full late review (?):
First of all, the UI is pretty nice, the style was changed to fit "Steins;Gate" aesthetics. Even the text box changed when it's from Okabe's point of view. I especially love how the missions look and how the rewards look like a vending machine. Also, the flip phone (taken from the visual novel) is so cool!
As for the story...as a fan of the genre and tropes, having consumed plenty of similar time travel stories, the story is nothing groundbreaking. One can even see what's coming at times (honestly, what else do you expect from a time travel story? Or did I know a bit too much about "Steins;Gate"??), but still, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The familiar genre and tropes were executed well with a relatively good pace and fun writing that flows smoothly. It's pretty long, too, much to my surprise. What do you mean this is a collab event in a gacha game?? It can stand as its own story.
It's so well-done, you don't have to be familiar with "Steins;Gate" to enjoy it (though of course, if you're familiar, you'll get more enjoyment). Perhaps "Steins;Gate" fans can even enjoy it without knowing "Neural Cloud". It took its time to introduce the setting and characters, the good dose of comedy never making it boring. The fun banters between characters give insight into their relationships and personalities, making you care for them even a bit. That makes the sudden mood shift all the more painful, punching you in the guts, even though I expected and even hoped for it.
The mood whiplash - from a merry cafe to Oasis in ruins due to Entropy attack and Kurisu's subsequent death - is indeed sudden. One blink and suddenly, the entire world changed. But then, as though we're detectives, we (along with the characters) got to retrace the steps and found out what happened. It was brewing behind the scenes without us knowing all this time - a disaster waiting to happen, and happen it did.
That's when the time travel kicks in - to fix what went wrong: the Entropy's attack on Oasis and Kurisu's death. This being "Steins;Gate", the time travel has its own set of rules and restrictions, which is very interesting. That means one has to be smart to go about it. In time travel stories, there's usually something unavoidable in all/most timelines, and that is explained here. Everything about the time travel feels scientific-ish, which is only natural as it is part of "Science Adventure" series. Thankfully, they aren't hard to understand here. The rules and limitations also presented more problems the characters have to tackle. The stakes are high and the problems only keep piling up - they got a lot of work to do.
As if all the futile attempts and loops - seeing Kurisu dying from increasingly ridiculous reasons, as though the world wants her dead no matter what - weren't enough, Okabe soon found a horrifying discovery: in a timeline where Mayuri wasn't around, Kurisu was fine. One of them had to die for the other one to stay alive. What a cruel fate and choice to make.
Mayuri sacrificed herself, but of course, that is not the end. Far from it, the story began anew here. An arguably even worse future came: Mayuri leading the Entropy attack as opposed to Riko (Riko being Entropized was a nice surprise, by the way). Not only did they have to kill her now, Okabe had to see his childhood friend suffer unimaginable pain and lose herself. Whatever he chose, his friends will suffer. There is no right answer.
Of course, A "fix it" time travel story isn't complete without a healthy dose of suffering and descent into madness from all the futile attempts and loops. As a lover of such things, I am pleased by how the story presented them, especially the madness.
Naturally, despite sinking into despair, Okabe managed to stand back up and refused to give in to fate. He and Professor racked their brains to concoct a plan, a way to save both Oasis and the 2 girls, to reach a world line where nobody had to die. Keeping the visual novel nature of "Steins;Gate", there are 2 endings here. This can be easily done thanks to the roguelike mechanics of the game, and I really love that. If you somehow got the bad ending the first and second time, you get to experience a bit of Okabe's despair and madness. Very fun!
Ultimately, the way to achieve their desired world line and outcome is to trick the world. It's wild, yet it makes sense. It's smart and very exciting. Professor got a chance to take the spotlight in the action for once, showing off the result of Python's training to be able to survive Faith's attacks, though not without close calls and injuries. I'm glad Professor could shine too in the end. Very badass!
When their plan succeeded and they finally reached their desired world line, it's hard to not smile. At long last, everyone is alive and happy. It's a cathartic end to such a long and harsh journey. They earned their happy ending. What an epic story.
And thus, we loop back to the beginning of my review: isn't this story pretty close to the essence of the visual novel's story?? Of course, many things changed, such as the setting, and it might as well be shortened/condensed, but certain key events, plot and emotional beats remain the same (if you know, you know). One might think that's lazy, but I think it's an amazing feat. It also proves how good and effective the concept and emotional beats of "Steins;Gate" are, to remain gut-punching even in another setting entirely.
The story focused on Kurisu at first before moving on to Mayuri. I'm sure the game wanted to try to balance the 2 girls, and I think it did a pretty good job on that front, but...aren't there too many CGs of Mayuri?? She has 3 - as the final boss, dying as the final boss, and lying in a crate in the end of the true/golden ending. There's also a CG of when she's young, which I assume was taken from the original visual novel. In comparison, Kurisu only has 1, namely her death scene. Or did I miss something??
Still, my point stands: this is one hell of an epic collab event story.
EXTRA
Entropized Riko is cool:
Other CGs:
I love me some 4th wall breaks (there are a lot of good lines here, I had to refrain from screenshotting them all):
I didn't know Kamie is a fellow fujoshi comrade...I'm sorry!! I was not familiar with your game. If I had known, I'd have rolled you! Well, I should due to Dupin anyway, but I was worried about my savings back then. I'll try to get you later!!