A very odd game to me. The beginning caught my immediate interest with how bombastic it was and how indulgent it handed out CGs. I was hooked! Then came a great lull as the game got lost in its own world building, where every conversation felt like its sole purpose was to explain the magic system in stilted explanations. It was a trudge for a good while, but eventually the crux of the story got introduced with a slow and meandering build up. I wasn't sure at first about the themes it presented because they felt heavy handed and clumsy, but somehow, out of nowhere, the conclusion was able to tie it all together in a very satisfying and emotional way. Every worry I had about the writing was made good on. The ending was not quite as bombastic as the beginning, but hooked me just as much, and made me immediately wishlist the sequel.

A graphic novel promising the need to make decisions, but I think there were two times you actually got to do that? It was very clearly a set up for a long and in-depth story and it did that fairly well. My main complaint about the world establishment was it relied a lot on overexplaining terms and phrases integral to the universe. I started skipping through conversations once I got the gist. Overall, the world was interesting and I imagine was a good set up for what's to follow. Don't think I'll be going into the next game.

I am a bit conflicted on this novel, here and now. I didn't go in expecting all that much and actually was a bit surprised by some of the depth and quality of the writing and art, but the structure and length of the novel left me feeling quite dissatisfied by the end.

In terms of what's good, I love the clean, colorful style with expressive characters and frequent, gorgeous CGs. I can imagine that some might find the fantasy designs a bit on the tropey anime style, but I'm kind of a sucker for this stuff. And ignoring that suspicion, I do think a lot of effort and fun shine through in it all.

From the story side, I was surprised by the fact that this was really more of a science-fantasy tale — at least for this part of the series. I imagine that might have actually been in the description of the game, but I read that a while before actually playing it, and most of my decision making on what VNs to play is based on the art. So... 😅

In any case, I thought there were a lot of interesting elements at play here, and it went into in moderated detail on them: complex but conscious it was also a fantasy tale — so not too much concentrated Science speak. The world presented is fairly novel in design, as far as what I've read, with a lot of promising interplay between the fantastical, technological, and socio-political elements. Then it uses those elements fairly effectively to create depth to the character dramas that are the core of the story.

At its best moments, I found it to be a very touching and heartfelt episode. The character writing was often engaging and even entertaining in the lighter scenes, and the personalities expressing themselves were layered and likable individuals. So there really is quite a lot good in the game. In fact, I'm definitely intending on continuing with the series...

However, in the context of this title on its own, the structural issues are a bit of a pain point. To put it simply, what's here feels like the opening of a central narrative plus a side story. Without reading more, it's hard to say exactly how relevant the later 2/3rds of the novel will be to be the central thread. Those 2/3rds are a good story in their own right and definitely help build the world as a whole, but the way it transitions to that thread feels like it stopped and intentionally hit "pause" on the main objective.

And that really doesn't have as much to do with the plot setup of the story so much as how the expectations are communicated to the reader. To avoid spoilers I'll be vague but essentially it was a problem of showing the reader a more direct route to continue the narrative, then electing to take a detour. One that made sense for the characters to take given their values and personalities, but a detour nonetheless. If that more direct route had never been presented as a possibility — or presented at a later time — then I probably would be thinking of this as just an interesting first episode in an adventure instead.

(I could imagine other ways to solve my issue as well, that's just the method I first thought of)

Fault Milestone One's narrative structure is just a little bit too off for me to ignore, and that's what kinda frustrates me. When I get to the next chapters, I'll know whether or not I really recommend the series, but if nothing else, there is a neat little science-fantasy story here. I just wouldn't prioritize it if you have more interesting titles on your backlog.