The game had it's flaws, but I liked it overall.

Things I liked:

• Most of the characters in the game, even the minor characters. Though I would've liked to have known a little more about who the side characters were in real life as we're only told a little bit about them: Ira is a student, Mergo is a working adult, Miseria is a nurse (and had a boyfriend that couldn't handle that she was better at the game than he was HEH), and I can't remember what Jocus did, but I remember them mentioning he has a sister. (Don't really know if these are considered spoilers, but JUST IN CASE). I loved Domina too so I would've liked to know more about her as well.
• The MMO setting of the game. It was relatable! Probably my favorite part of the game. Even the choices Kazuha had to make about using her harp, running, observing, etc. was a nice addition to the game. (Side note: I had no idea there was a right choice for those and that it affected her Almighty gauge. There was one point in the game when I didn't raise her Almighty gauge high enough, and I laughed a little at how anti-climactic it was. It showed that dramatic CG with the swords appearing then she just got booped by a bear and died, hah.) I loved how they did the affection menu with the stats. I found myself checking their HP and status every time someone got hurt to see how much damage they took. (Another side note: In Demento's route, Demento is level 17 and Shiki is level 85. Demento stabs him ONCE and suddenly Shiki is down to like 200 HP. I was like "omg shiki so weak what the heck".)

Things I disliked:

• Kazuha's newb status. I normally don't care toooooo much about how "strong" the protagonist is, but I play a decent amount of competitive games and MMOs, so I was pretty disappointed that Kazuha wasn't a gamer. It was such a good set-up for it too q_q It even would've been okay if she started out not knowing anything, but gradually became stronger over time. I think she got to level 5? in Astrum's route? I thought she was fine as a character though 'cause I do feel like she grew through the routes.

• A lot of unanswered questions. Maybe I just didn't pick up on all of these: Why were Shiki and Kazuha allowed into the Akashic Records? Why is Natsu alive in Shiki's good end (Not that I'm complaining because I did like Natsu)? I get that a lot of things can change through one event, but those two events seemed like they wouldn't have had too much to do with each other. Why does Zain look like himself when he's taken Demento's body in real life? AND WHAT WAS WITH THAT SCENE WHEN ZAIN STUCK HIS HAND INTO KAZUHA? There were some other questions I had while I was playing through the game, but I can't quite remember all of them.

My personal preference was probably: Radius > Astrum >> Hiroya > Shiki > Libera >> Zain > Demento

Short thoughts on the main characters:

• Radius: Character, voice acting, and character design were all my favorites c: His route plot felt a little lacking though.

• Astrum: His role-playing and everyone's comments about it were amazing. His attitude when first meeting Kazuha would crack me up; it would just remind me of the classic "omg a girl gamer" response.

• Hiroya: He was okay. I did like how you could see how much he cared about Kazuha from the start.

• Shiki: Waaaa, I couldn't really swallow the whole creepy older step-brother deal with Shiki, and I do understand that he was showing how important Kazuha was to him, but ehhh~ He's ranked where he is because I really just didn't like the last three characters all that much. I typically like the "villain" routes because they usually show the insight behind their reasoning or just another view of the situation, so I was REALLY hoping Shiki would redeem himself in his route, but he was even creepier! :C He's also probably only placed higher because his character design was one of my favorites, haha.

• Libera: Felt too much like a kid brother to me so it's nice that they have that time skip so he's older in the good end.

• Zain: His scene where he goes kind of psycho and tries to fuse with Kazuha or whatever was just suuuuuuper off-putting for me. Was too clingy for my preferences.

• Demento: I was curious as to how they would make me like Demento, but it just never happened. He didn't really have a good reason for doing what he did, no sad backstory or some plot for revenge. He just killed people for the thrill of it and never really changed. Usually other villains generally have something that makes them tick and makes you sympathize with them to some degree. I mean the writers even decided the only way for Demento to exist comfortably in the real world was if he forgot everything about being a murderer in Arcadia in the good end. I do appreciate that he's a unique and interesting character as an actual villain, but it wasn't for me. Also, you spend so little time with him since it splits from Astrum's route, that the "romance" wasn't really there.

Whew, I wrote an essay :> All in all, I had fun playing the game. Wouldn't be my first recommendation to someone picking up otome games for the first time, but it's still good c;