I just finished watching wingupingu play the game after having first played it myself over a year ago, and he posted some thoughts here himself, go check it out. I liked AI when I first played it, but I also found it to be somewhat overhyped and this watch confirmed it to me. Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s some incredibly witty writing and it still evoked plenty of laughs from me the second time around, and I continue to appreciate the themes of familial love presented in Ota’s and Mizuki’s routes. The final Somnium in Ota’s route is probably the most vivid memory of the game I’ve had for its emotional impact and it still got me worked up, although it didn’t help that it tied into a personal experience I had earlier this year.
On the other hand, Iris may be entertaining as a character, but I found her actual relevance to the plot kind of weak. I know people like to meme on that one guy who review-bombed the game for all the bad stuff that happens to Iris, but she really does lack agency for the main heroine and there’s a few parts of her suffering that seem pretty tangential to the main plot, existing mainly to prompt pity. Apparently her mother Hitomi was originally written to be the main heroine until she was swapped out for Iris, and you can really feel the struggle to justify Iris having a large role despite not having much direct involvement with the actual plot.
The true ending also kind of drags due to an abundance of flashbacks. I actually really do like a few emotional scenes during the true end route, but it does get drowned out by some contrived plot twists. AI tries a little too hard to make a happy ending as possible for everybody involved, and while I wouldn’t say it’s tonally incoherent with the lighthearted sections from earlier in the game, it does cause some stuff to lose impact.
This probably makes it sound like I dislike AI when I really don’t. I don’t think it’s wrong for a game like AI to be easily digestible and more focused on making the player smile than being difficult to decipher or thematically dense. But I’ve also seen enough people gush on the positive sides of this game that I don’t feel the need to join the choir, rather addressing some of the shortcomings I don’t really see people talk about as much. It’s a fun time, just don’t let the hype overtake you.
On the other hand, Iris may be entertaining as a character, but I found her actual relevance to the plot kind of weak. I know people like to meme on that one guy who review-bombed the game for all the bad stuff that happens to Iris, but she really does lack agency for the main heroine and there’s a few parts of her suffering that seem pretty tangential to the main plot, existing mainly to prompt pity. Apparently her mother Hitomi was originally written to be the main heroine until she was swapped out for Iris, and you can really feel the struggle to justify Iris having a large role despite not having much direct involvement with the actual plot.
The true ending also kind of drags due to an abundance of flashbacks. I actually really do like a few emotional scenes during the true end route, but it does get drowned out by some contrived plot twists. AI tries a little too hard to make a happy ending as possible for everybody involved, and while I wouldn’t say it’s tonally incoherent with the lighthearted sections from earlier in the game, it does cause some stuff to lose impact.
This probably makes it sound like I dislike AI when I really don’t. I don’t think it’s wrong for a game like AI to be easily digestible and more focused on making the player smile than being difficult to decipher or thematically dense. But I’ve also seen enough people gush on the positive sides of this game that I don’t feel the need to join the choir, rather addressing some of the shortcomings I don’t really see people talk about as much. It’s a fun time, just don’t let the hype overtake you.