Tester’s Corner: Cartagra Ed. Vol 2

It snows so much throughout this story; you wonder why no one has died of frostbite alone.

It snows so much throughout this story; you wonder why no one has died of frostbite alone.

Wait, SHE’S A VRIGIN TOO?!

*Cough* I mean, today’s Babbles are brought to you by NekoBabbles!

 

Cartagra ~Affliction of the Soul~, is the prequel to the beautiful visual novel Kara No Shoujo. (If you haven’t played Kara No Shoujo, PLAY KARA NO SHOUJO.)

Cartagra opens up with the snow-drifting title screen that seems to pull you into the story with its background music. With fantastic CG, storyline, and timing of the soundtracks, this is one story that leaves you with cliffhangers up until you unlock its True Ending.

Crows eating dead crows. That's called recycling!

Crows eating dead crows. That’s called recycling!

Story –

Takashiro Shugo is a private detective who is given the task of finding a missing girl named Kozuki Yura. As he travels to his client’s house, he notices continuous news articles about “Bizarre Murders” happening around his hometown. Although it starts out as a simple missing person’s search, he begins to realize that the two cases have more in common than he originally thought. The twin sister, Kozuki Kazuna. The brothel, Yukishiro. The Mafia, Hand of Death. Even Takashiro Shugo’s own past is called into question. It is a murder mystery fit to be released on Halloween if you want to turn off all the lights to deter strangers from coming to your house and begging for candy.

Toji is my wifu. I have replaced Riho from Deardrops on my desktop wallpaper.

Toji is my wifu. I have replaced Riho from Deardrops on my desktop wallpaper.

Characters –

If there is a female character present on the screen, there will most likely be a penis inserted into her. I mean come on, you live in a brothel-

Oh sorry, you wanted actual quality? You have your usual archetypes: the admirer, the “just friends”, the sister, the bad girl, the cute one, the crazy one, and “the one”. As you go through each route, you learn more about the background and life of each character, setting yourself up to be with them at the end- or die a horrific, horrific death. I mean, seriously, this visual novel really calls into question whether it is really worth it to open yourself up to commitment or just die. Women. Sheesh. Is it worth it, really?

Does your character have personality? Surprisingly, he does most things based on logic so you are not annoyed at him as you play through the game. As you click, you are given a few more clues than he is, but this does not give you an overwhelming advantage over him in piecing together the mystery. Even as you make your own suspect list, the process of how everything connects is revealed wonderfully and worth your time to work your way up to its True Ending.

The gore in this game is as delicious as the food.

The gore in this game is as delicious as the food.

CG/ Play Value –

From the moment you open the game to when you are forced to stop because you realize you can’t be starving yourself, the game does a fantastic job of setting the mood and focus of the characters. Once you reach a Good Ending in the game, the gallery of CG opens up and it is HUGE. You could take any one of those pictures and turn it into your desktop background as they are great quality and enhance the game’s play value. This game has a few possible endings; each ending should be played as it unlocks a certain set of CG to add to your enormous collection. Different endings also give you different clues to add to the mystery, so you are never playing for the simple act of completion. The cleverness of this game is that if you reach an ending that isn’t the True Ending, the game will hint that there is more for you to uncover, spurring you to go back and choose differently.

Skeptical girls are skeptical.

Skeptical girls are skeptical.

Overall –

Play this game. Enjoy Halloween in your dark house as you slowly undress these girls- I mean solve this horrific mystery. As a nod to Kara No Shoujo, this game delivers.

This game had a 2 episodes OVA that came out in 2009? WHAAAAAA?????!!!!

TL;DR

1. Play this game.

2. All girls have smooth, pale skin. (Wait, are you 18?!!)

3. Here is a fun drinking game: Take a shot every time you read the word “wry” as you play through this visual novel. (Disclaimer: You must be 21 to drink. I am also not responsible for your alcohol poisoning.)

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3 Comments

  1. I felt that this game is weaker than Kara no Shoujo. All the key points in the investigation are discovered by Nana or Toji and the fact that I already know from Kara no Shoujo that Kazuna married Shugo and Hatsune is alive take all the suspense from the plot.

  2. Your use of GIFs with around 60 colors is an interesting choice…

  3. Pfft, 21 to drink. What sort of a backward country would set the drinking age so high.

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