I was extremely excited for this game but now that I've played it...haah. I'm not sure if I'd actually reccomend it or not, so I'll leave that open for discussion and instead just give my two cents on it in general.
Likely not entirely spoiler free!
Love and Country is one of the very, very few visual novels with a premade-heroine that I played. It's not usually my cup of tea, since not having my own character kind of zaps a decent amount of fun out of any game for me because character creation is right up my alley. But Lillian seemed neat enough, so I was willing to give it a shot.
Thus far, I haven't regretted it. Lillian is a fun, layered character that is nice to follow around. She has her strengths and weaknesses alike, which means she made for a lovely protagonist. So yes, I do like Lillian (and actually most characters in this game - especially Émile. I'll hands down betray my country for him, no questions asked. Government Secrets? Have 'em. Idgaf. Just give me this guy.).
I liked waltzing through this story with her AND I like that having a set heroine means we can get some really neat CG's where we can actually see the characters interact.
Which leads me to the next thing I really, really liked - the art. At first I wasn't super sure about it, but I really did like it. The messy, scribbly style is lovely and I've always been a sucker for hugeblue eyes. The sprites were expressive but not in overly dramatic ways, which is always welcome. The backgrounds were also really lovely - I'm especially fond of the German street with the restaurant signs. I'm not sure why, but that one totally did it for me.
The music is also really well done and did a very nice job of carrying the mood, so I really appreciated that part a lot!
As for the plot and the writing - I liked 'em...for the most part. There's a few things that bothered me, but on a general level I do believe 'Love and Country' is nicely written and well plotted.
But this is sadly where the positives end and I'll have to talk about a few things that I didn't like (0r absolutely hated, in some cases).
My first big no - Anton. This is entirely personal, so don't take it too seriously, but I would've just downright scrapped him as a love interest. That dude made my skin crawl and not in a good way. Huge, ginormous red flag. He's got great villain potential though and I did like him as such in Émile's routes.
Now a more serious issue: This "game" has so. few. choices.
Even Bustafellows had more - which shocked me because I really did not think it possible.
This is a huge downgrade for what could essentially be a great game.
Visual novels are, first and foremost, novels with illustrations. Nailed that.
But they are supposed to have a gaming aspect to them and with a whopping two choices, 'Love and Country' misses the mark by kilometres on kilometres on that one.
I actually found myself thinking that it might have been better of as an illustrated novel rather than a video game, because then I could at least lie down comfortably while I read it and I'd, quite frankly, be less bored. And I wasn't bored because the story was boring - it wasn't. No, I was bored because I expected to play a game but found myself reading a pretty picture book instead.
There is basically zero player agency which is simply too lackluster for a visual novel- especially one that we paid money for.
Now, I'm not saying the game isn't worth it's money - it definitely is and I absolutely didn't mind spending money on it. Just looks wise, I'd probably have paid more. But for this amount of money, I would've expected a little more agency and the ability to influence the story at least a tiny bit more. But we were given absolutely nothing in that regard, which is a shame.
My biggest issue with this game actually builds off of it's lack of player agency - the god damn endings. (The next part is filled with spoilers, duh!)
There wasn't a singular ending that felt fullfilling. Not one. It was always a let down, one way or the other and I'm not lying when I say that after Émile's "good" ending, I was so mad that I had to quit the game for a few days.
Genuinely, I was seething.
First: The Herbert thing was so insane. Even if something happens and Lillian is unable to follow immediately, all Émile had to do was shove the dude over to switzerland and hang back for a hot minute. No one was on their tail and no one was trying to get them right then. There was no reason for Herbert to wait at all, especially since it was already established that the boys could just leave on their own if they had to.
And, more importantly: I hated that we didn't have a single choice in whether or not Lillian and Èmile end up together and that she always chooses her job over him. I despised it, because it's a stupid issue to begin with - you're scared you won't be able to pick success over your partner? Don't go on missions with your partner. There, fixed.
No company would ever force this on a couple, because they would be sabotaging themselves and risk the success of their operations. This entire thing just felt blown out of proportion and could've been solved by a single conversation with both Margie and Èmile. There was absolutely no reason for her to just push him away like that - with little to no explanation, at that.
And I'm saying this as someone who usually doesn't mind a sombre ending. I even prefer them sometimes, but this one just felt unnecessary.
In a way, the endings really ruined the game for me just a tiny bit. It's such a shame because there were so many things that I actually really liked about it, but the lack of player agency and the resulting awful endings were just a huge let down.
This was quite pleasant. It's a rather quick game to play, so it's fun and easy to explore the other routes as well. At times, I was a bit confused by the lore but playing the other routes helped with that.
The only thing I could really "complain" about - it didn't bother me, but some people it might - was that some routes didn't have background music. I think it was mainly Valle's route.
Otherwise a lovely game with interesting characters! Cheers!
WARNING. Major Spoilers may follow.
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I totally get what you mean, I had the same reaction.
Now, I'm still really looking forward to the next chapters because I want to know how they deal with Zovak and if MC will end up being the queen or whatever will happen (and I can't resist Damon's sweet temptation...) but when N popped up again and had a whole arse army behind her, I just felt...a bit disappointed.
This development basically takes everything MC fought for out of her hands, leaving her with literally nothing to do but date and participate in whatever N has planned.
She has her memory back. She has no reason to assemble an army. She won’t need to do any intelligence work, because N probably has all of that finely laid out. She is no longer the only one left – which solves the big question “HOW do we save Seleota and WHAT am I able and willing to do to achieve that?” So, what exactly is MC’s purpose now?
The next thing that really worries me, is MC’s progress. Be it big, be it small – things happened. MC learned fighting, she got to know the system and its inhabitants and she actually saw what needed to be done. HowbadlySeleota needed a good leader. She was growing out of her former shadow-princess role. She was starting to leave that whole timid-royal shell, to move on and actually become someone that haspresence. She tried to no longer be the ignored-princess. Because she CAN’T be. Because she basically carries the whole of Seleota on her shoulders, being the last Peg’asi. She had decisions to make, she had to become a centre figure of revolution. And she wanted tohelp, because she would have the means to do so.
But now that’s no longer necessary.
N is all that already. She’s a good leader, she knows what is wrong with Seleota, she has plans that will change how things go and she’s already strong, cunning and intelligent. And she actually has people, more than six of them, that are willing to follow her and fight for her. N is basically a full-on lion, followed by her pride. MC is barely a lion cub yet.
Now that MC is being pushed aside, what will she do? Go back to being the quiet-princess, off to walk in her sister’s shadow? Basically being the same loyal sibling once more? Just as it has been before? No more than an observer in a story that could have been hers? Or will she try to stand beside her sister and keep whatever little progress she made?
And on that note: It is said, that N has the habit of coddling MC to protect her. To purposely keep MC out of the loop to keep her save. Now, will she keep on doing that? I mean, old habits die hard, right? And does that mean, the we’ll now get a bunch of scenes where MC is struggling against her sister at the WORST possible time, simply to prove something? To prove that she’s not worthless, that she can handle being involved (possibly endangering other people in the process)? I reallyreallydon’t want people clicking their tongue at our childish MC and her “tamper tantrums”.
So, while I really like that MC won’t automatically be forced to become the queen now simply because there’s no one left, I really worry that the story will either get really flat or annoyingly rebellious from here on out.
The only thing that I think can turn this whole thing on its head, is exposing N as a villain. Maybe as one of those mindless-super-warriors of Zovak’s, created to flush out the last of the resistance and get rid of them all at once. And nobody but MC notices, because she’s the one who knew N best. Obviously, nobody believes her (nobody but our favourite crew, of course), so she actually still has to solve the whole issue AND find out how to turn N back to normal.
Now THAT would be a plot twist I support.
Personally, I'm not agreeing on the whole "MC is useless" thing, but I see how people could get that impression. She's not as strong or present as our other characters and remains quiet a lot.
However, I'm swooping in to say: An arc and the character having any sort of presence or influence are not the same pair of shoes. The MC arc will obviously peak much later than all the other arcs. That doesn't quite keep MC from being more than a spectator of the story, though. So I don't quite think the arcs are the problem here.
(Please imagine a fork ton of emoji's, since I can't place any for some reason.)
