Venus Blood Empire

Yes, I went and played a game in this series, mostly because Sanahtlig is an old friend and I didn't want to keep brushing him off. In fact, I'm marathonning this series starting with this game.

First, an initial umbrella statement... this would have been a first-class story (though flawed) if it weren't for the massive amounts of tentacle rape and choukyou. Am I serious? Yeah. Despite everything, the base story is actually really good.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the gameplay. It takes the form of a conquest-strategy VN where you use six-soldier units to attack cities that are defended by up to six soldiers. Unfortunately, there is nothing resembling actual strategy to the entire thing. Oh sure, you have to manage your resources and keep your soldiers healthy... but that's the closest you get to it (there are some strategic elements to the management of the power gauge and the use of skills, but those are minor). Basically, it is a 'make your units more powerful than the enemy's, then stuff them down his throat through brute force' approach. It has its moments, but they are few and far in between.

The biggest upside of the story is the protagonist - for all that he is a ruthless pragmatist and schemer - and his closest subordinates, and the biggest downside is the final antagonist... I mean, you just don't get any more cookie-cutter than the last boss. I will say that the actual last battle in the Law route was pretty cool, but I was thoroughly bored by the boss's motives within ten minutes of its appearance. The ending also felt generic and truncated, which is sad after the richness of the actual story leading up to the end.