Tester's Corner: DCIF Ed. Vol. 2

Today we bring you our second installment of DCIF’s Tester’s Corner!

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I’m a picky person when it comes to my level of ‘enthrallment’ with written works and whatnot.  And in the case of Da Capo I.F. I found myself sort of stricken once again with ‘Don’t Care For It’ syndrome.  For me, this series hasn’t really managed to just ‘hook me’ in a way that I’m dying to read more.  Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t care for visual novels, in fact I’m guilty of checking out other series that are…  Well, just as lengthy and plentiful in details and dialogue, though it’s up to you to determine who that is with the industry having many groups and companies doing just the same thing.  The problem is that I just don’t find myself interested in the story Da Capo had to tell and as a result, I didn’t find myself anymore converted by Innocent Finale.  It’s nothing bad, nothing AMAZING, just average from my point of view.

However, I’m not blind to what this series does provide that IS enjoyable. I do like the character designs, for the most part, and you’re never confused or unsure of what’s going on.  That last point in particular is all any reader can ask for.  If you’re a fan of Da Capo, consider this a sort of ‘build up’ to get you back in the mood for the series before the sequel comes out.  For those not interested in the series  just sit back and wait it out for something else.

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19 Comments

  1. I wonder sometimes if MG is a real Company. Are you sure you here to SELL products ? Basicly you say “men dont waste your time on that. This is just another average game. Keep your money, there are better stuff to come”. Weird.

    • Well, basically, my idea behind the corner was this: You’re under absolutely no obligation, but if you want to write something for the blog, I’ll put it up. With the exception of removing spoilers, the comments here are entirely unedited bits provided by the testers.

      It’s one person’s personal opinion and reaction to the game. Not everyone likes romantic Visual Novels–some go more for action/suspense, others for comedy. I’d be lying if I tried to say that everyone likes Clannad, or that Soul Link didn’t have it’s faults, even though I love it and would still recommend it to plenty others.

      The next segments to come will give yet more interesting angles on DCIF–One’s from a die-hard Nemu Fan, another is from someone who came to loathe her.

      • It’s actually one of things I really like about Manga Gamer is the perceived honesty. There’s no “everyone should buy our product because everything we do is great!” nonsense but rather an attempt to give you a product and let you make up your own mind. If you like it, buy it, if not, let’s see if we’ve something else to tempt you.
        I like that.

      • yes yes I understand the position (it’s fair and honest, really) and my reaction was a bit …err… rude (sorry for that, passion, passion…).
        But I persist to say such article shudn’t be posted on a company’s blog (on a forum or personal blog yes) which is official.
        Anyway, no drama, there are more important things to deal with.

    • MG is the future for VNs in overseas ^^

  2. Why are you guys no advertising like JAST USA?
    “Da Capo the best visual novel ever created!”

    Once again the only decent games Circus has made was Da capo and Suika everything else is utter shit.

  3. see i like this, its not saying “you should buy this because we translated it!!” have to love there honesty. Il agree da capo isn’t the greatest VN but il still buy it because da capo wasn’t bad in many ways either

  4. I too appreciate the honest opinions from you guys. One thing this particular blog entry does help to show is how diverse VNs can be. Similar to books, some people appreciate one genre or series while not being all that interested in another.
    I should also say that I hope this helps MG to consider making the future lineup a little more chromatic when it comes to genre. Don’t get me wrong I love games like Da Capo, Kira Kira, Edelweiss, and Shuffle! and am greatly looking forward to Da Capo IF, EF, and even Zaishuu, but the thing is I’m getting a little tired of games set at school. That’s one reason I liked Soul Link and even Ryoujoku Guerilla (sorry still not over the name change) and also why I’m looking forward to Koihime Musou regardless of the lack of voices; there’s a change of scenery. Also, as much as I love a good romance, I also want to see a more action filled story, something with adventure, danger, explosions, fights, and all that good stuff. I’d also like to see more mystery themed games like the EVE series, Desire, Divi-Dead (hint, please talk with C’s Ware), Chain, Innocent Grey’s games, and the Mikagura Shoujo Tanteidan games.
    Anyway, er, enough of that, back to the topic. While I agree that Da Capo isn’t the kind of VN with story elements that can blow me away like Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo, it’s still a very good and enjoyable story, and well above average as renai go (it blows 80% of JAST’s stuff out of the water in my opinion). I’d rate what I’ve played so far as about the level of Private Nurse is among my favorites. The story’s good, the music’s good, the artwork’s very good. All in all, this is a series that I’m very glad is avaialble to us English speakers and hope to see more of (I hope we see at least some of the 100 million fan disks for this series) down the road. Give all the guys who worked on this a pat on the back for me.
    On a side note, who’s that in the picture?

    • Private Nurse was the second game to ever make me sob like a little girl. The first was the original Breath of Fire…

      The image is of Tsukishiro Alice.

      • I haven’t seen this character so far in Da Capo. Is she from Suika?

        • Alice is in D.C.P.C., along with Tamaki, Kanae, Nanako, Izumiko, and Kasumi. Alice’s route in particular is one of the few routes that were translated in the partial fan-translation, and also the only route I’ve ever actually fully played. She also shows up in the anime’s second season with the other D.C.P.C. girls (save for Kasumi, and Izumiko still only shows up in bear form without any dialogue), and is confirmed to be in the T.P. Sakura OVAs as well. She’s from the same country as Aisia and befriends both her and Miharu, since they’re all the same age. She’s also an ex-circus performer, so she’s very acrobatic. Besides that, she’s a bit on the soft-spoken side, and she is also quite rich, having a mansion and a butler named Seba (who gets along with Suginami).

          On another note, Divi-Dead is set in a school too. >_>

          • Thanks for the info; kinda makes me sad though that the chances of us seeing Plus Communication officially in english are close to nil (the fact that it’s “Broke-tober” for me means importing the game for the partial english patch doesn’t help matters). As for Divi-Dead, the dark and complex storyline and the mystery element are enough for me to overlook the school setting. That and there’s not that big a focus on the characters’ school lives but rather on the dark mystery they’re all involved in.

        • The only Suika character that made an appearance in the DC franchise (to my knowledge) is Sayaka’s cameo in the first game.

          • Ojo/Nanashi’s cat and Utamaru look the same too.

            I don’t know much about Suika besides the OVA and Sayaka’s and Ojo/Nanashi’s character.

          • Although Archimedes (Ojo’s cat) is black whereas Utamaru is white.

          • I would imagine the cats are more Nanao Naru getting her trademark in, than any actual cameo purpose.

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