I still want to write my own âfinal thoughtsâ on the series (and ask more plot questions and discuss the characters more. Iâm on vacation. I have time). But Iâm going through this thread right now, so Iâll respond.
Reply to Final thoughts on the game/the series
In my mind, you are this massive fan of the series. So I have been unsure how I should write my overall impression and opinion on the game. Because Iâm fairly critical to aspects of it and I donât want to say bad things about something so loved.
But it seems like you are fairly critical as well.
It seems like we share our dislike for Rikka. I mean, she is fairly sweet and also comedy gold in most scenes. But when you look at the whole story, she is terrible. I think her blackmail is hard to forgive. And itâs hard to accept how the game tries to pretend that she is just a good friend to Suoh. And it doesnât really work because itâs pretty much unbelievable she doesnât still have romantic feelings for her, given how she fan-girls over her. Suoh absolutely should not have forgiven her (so easily and without a proper apology). I kind of do hate Rikka (but again, she is really nice in isolated scenes).
I already said that in automne. But I didnât like what happened to the characters of Yuzuriha and Nerine. Like with Rikka, they took an, up to this point, beloved character and changed them/revealed a darker side (not as bad as Rikka, though).
And while the scene where Yuzuriha and Nerine first appeared in hivre war kind of cool in isolation, they really overdid this when she sent Erika to the hospital. I mean, it was an accident and the game probably didnât intend for it be that serious. But when you have a fight, the other person falls, hits their head and you go away without checking on them. Thatâs potentially manslaughter. Maybe Iâm overreacting and people get knocked unconscious in cartoons all the time. But I see this series as more grounded and itâs my understanding that these kind of injuries might potentially be harmless but also potentially be very serious.
Although I thought the scene of Chidori screeming at Suoh was very cool.
Then the mystery stuff: while itâs kind of fun to puzzle things together after finishing the game, almost nothing about it worked for me while playing the game. Even when ignoring the language barrier and the fact that itâs spread over 4 games (most of it is in the final game, anyway), itâs just too obscure with too much only hinted at and not fully explained even after playing through all endings.
Someone wrote a reply to pretty much that exact criticism on reddit: Reddit - Dive into anything
I imagine there might be quite a few players that didnât like that plot point or liked Mayuri less for it or thought her choosing to be with Allium instead meant that she never liked Suoh that much in the first place. But I have absolutely no problem with it. Both wanting a mom more than a girlfriend (especially when Mayuri is still very young) and looking after someone elderly, I can respect a lot.
Her not telling Suoh about it is a different thing. I think I kind of know why and can understand why. But I think I want to write specifically about that in a later, separate comment.
Just so that this doesnât get too negative, Iâll also mention a few things I liked.
I liked most of the character writing (with the already mentioned exceptions).
I appreciate the production value. Especially the music. Iâm not a huge fan of VN compositions. But I really liked the songs that run during the NVL scenes. And all music was really well rendered. I was admiring all the musical performers during the credits. Iâm not a huge fan of the typical background + character format for visuals, but the art was well done.
I loved Erika + Chidori.
I didnât love Chidori in ete because she was kind of prickly. But I love her in the later games. She is really sweet. She also seems like a bit of an outsider (like she wouldnât hang out with the gang if it werenât for Erika), which I somehow really like because she isnât really part of the drama.
Erika is such a good friend to Yuzuriha and Suoh in automne and hivre (making her confrontation with Yuzuriha in hivre all that harder to swallow).
Erika + Chidori flirting is sweet and funny. I really like seeing an established relationship (thatâs somehow rare in fiction, especially with a younger couple). And for whatever reason I really liked that they kept their relationship semi secret (seems much wiser than what Suoh and Rikka/Mayuri did in printemps). And I liked the hints that Erika has feelings for Daliah and Suoh and Chidori has somewhat justified jealousy, but it didnât seem like the relationship is doomed and the game was ok with just letting that aspect of the story open (I think the game made Erikas commitment clear to the player, but we didnât get a scene where Chidori gets reasured).
The voice acting was fantastic. I kind of wish there were more of those emotional and dramatic scenes.
Maybe most important for my enjoyment was that it felt very different from anime/manga or live action (not that I watch much live action). Thatâs true for both for the art and the voice acting.
I mean, there is lotâs of great voice acting in anime. But after a while it feels like there are only few voices in anime. And it really felt like I hadnât heard most of the voices from Flowers in anime before. Itâs rare to in anime to have voices that are a bit deeper but still girlish like with Mayuri. You already mentioned your appreciation of Rikkaâs VA. And I donât feel like I heard Suohs voice before. Erikaâs VA is an exception. Her performance was still very good, but I think I have
watched at least five anime staring her VA just while playing the Flowers series.
My (not so serious) ranking would be: Automne, but only Erika, Chidori and the twins > Printemps, but without Rikka > Ete > Hiver, but with an additional story guide that explains everything.
Or if I have to take the games as they really are: Ete > Printemps > Hiver > Automne.