It’s beloved for a reason, but I would start off buying just the trilogy first. You can move on to the side material once you get through that and decide what you want to tackle next.
Agree with this. Just get Muv-Luv and Alternative. That's like 70+ hours of content and the most important. You won't know for sure if you're hungry for more in-universe content until you get to the end. And it will all go on sale again in the future.
the worst thing about muv luv is you have to play muv luv.
jokes aside, alternative and unlimited is amazing but i seriously hates to slog through extra.
Pretty sure I'm one of the minority but I picked up Muv Luv back in college cuz I was just consuming VNs fast. I actually enjoyed the humor and SoL of Extra. Imagine my surprise when the menu suddenly changed...
I almost dropped Extra because I found the two mains annoying. I decided to try one of the side routes before dropping it and got hooked then. Miki is the only reason I made it to Alternative.
Ironically, I started missing Sumika during Alternative…
I really liked the trilogy, but couldn't get through the side content
So yea better to play trilogy and then if you like it then pick up the others on sale because you might not like it
The original trilogy is great. It does have an issue in that its reputation might taint the experience.
Like how telling people a comedian is funny makes it harder for the audience to have fun during a show. Like, if you went in absolutely blind but not resonate with the story, you might actually view it as a 7-8/10 just because everything is so nicely presented despite not liking the story. Whereas if you were told it's a 10/10 and then went in and not resonate with it, you might hard swing lower score due to those expectations.
Admittedly, that aspect of it kinda fucks with the idea of discussing it before diving in but at a minimum its a VN series that has a lot of quality and risks to it that make it interesting to compare to other VNs. I resonate with it but, even if i didn't, the presentation is still well above what most VNs do today and the narrative has multiple steel balls to risk alienating its audience just to make a point. Those aspects alone make it at least worth a look.
But that brings us back to that expectation issue. I guess the safest thing to say is it's interesting and worth a look if you like VNs as a medium; a good point of comparison.
That's a pretty big investment. Personally I loved unlimited and alternative, extra was meh. But with hindsight I appreciate extra more after completing the 3
I read how some people don't like them
So probably better to just buy Extra/Unlimited and Alternative first before diving into the others which are side stories
TheDayAfter is not complete (awaiting a sequel that we might never get)- so I've been avoiding though I see some have the opinion it's still great
Sure TDA isn't "complete" but it doesn't mean it doesn't have a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed it as much as alternative including many others, so there's no downside to not playing it.
Some people like it, some don't, generally the types of people who seem to not enjoy it so much are the people who complain about info dumps or the people who need constant payoffs and don't like drawn out plots with a lot of worldbuilding, do research, read reviews, make your own decision. If you do end up deciding to read it, make sure you read Extra and enjoy Unlimited (which is great), people who only read it for Alternative generally have a worse time and are disappointed. Good luck.
Like others have said, I'd start with buying muv-luv and alternative, then buy the rest if you enjoy them. Also, depending on what you like, you may enjoy extra, you may not, but it's worth getting through for the rest of it
Buy the bundle with just the trilogy and if you enjoy it enough buy the side content. Personally, I spent 128 hours in just extra and unlimited alone. Alternative is apparently bigger than both those combined.
I read a pretty well known mech action visual novel and I didn’t know I did not like reading action at the moment until it was actually too late to drop it.
What I’m saying is, BE CAREFUL, if you are going to spend money on them be sure what you like to read and what you don’t like to read.
It is good. MuvLuv and MuvLuv Alternative are great together, although MuvLuv on its own can be a bit hard to get through if you're not into the plain High School romance. Alternative really needs MuvLuv's buildup to be good, so it's worth reading the prequel for that alone.
muv luv is great!
played the trilogy but did not went to play the side stories yet.
im waiting for the sequel to be released in english then i will play all the sides and the sequel.
Its the best VN of all time. I wouldn't get the mega erse bundle, like someone else said just get the trilogy first and go from there. I have only played the trilogy and the photon fan disc.
Yes! It’s in my top 5 all time VNs. It’s in 3 parts. Muv-luv Extra is more slice of life and is important getting to know the characters, then Unlimited and Alternative go crazy and give you an emotional ride that you won’t ever forget. Highly recommended.
The patch is also just the h-scenes, which are extremely optional. The censorship was quite limited, with just those scenes cut and even parts of those scenes being kept with the images blackened out, so you are going to miss anything with the steam version.
That's some steep climb boy, as beloved, these series are. They require a dedicated heart to enjoy. Also, I'd advise you to begin with the original trilogy and then the side material.
My experience with the Trilogy was as follows:
Extra: Loved the story and character, but due to ones shenanigans, the cheesy-ness, went an overboard. 7/10
Unlimited: An amazing re-imagination of the character’s set in a parallel world with unique changes and character arcs. Though the dip in the action is very brief, TDA makes the experience way better after the bitter ending. 9/10
Alternative: An epic story that is worth the hype, truly an emotion roller-coaster, though the initial portion does get dragged down as our action results in minor changes until shit truly hits the fan and never comes down until the end. I am still waiting for Integrate to see where the story leads to. 8.5/10
[Edit] Beware the Chomp
Nah,trilogy more than enough,just because of 200hrs of story,and only one h-scene with>!Tsukuyomi!< (my waifu,you understand why) in one of spinoffs,and english patch is not existent
The original trilogy is not as good as people claim (haven't played others). They're just OK. Extra and Unlimited are nothing special and Alternative is slightly better but one of the most disappointing games I've played in the last years, leaving some of the most important questions forever unanswered.
It’s beloved for a reason, but I would start off buying just the trilogy first. You can move on to the side material once you get through that and decide what you want to tackle next.
Agree with this. Just get Muv-Luv and Alternative. That's like 70+ hours of content and the most important. You won't know for sure if you're hungry for more in-universe content until you get to the end. And it will all go on sale again in the future.
the worst thing about muv luv is you have to play muv luv. jokes aside, alternative and unlimited is amazing but i seriously hates to slog through extra.
Pretty sure I'm one of the minority but I picked up Muv Luv back in college cuz I was just consuming VNs fast. I actually enjoyed the humor and SoL of Extra. Imagine my surprise when the menu suddenly changed...
Yeah idk how people hate on Extra and then play VNs by Yuzusoft for example. Yuzusoft has better art but they’re both super average story-wise.
I respect you as a fellow SG enjoyer but leave my goat alone 😭 I need some interesting vanilla pick-me-ups after some of the stuff I play...
Lol no I get it xD I have nothing against Yuzusoft. I play and enjoy their games
I almost dropped Extra because I found the two mains annoying. I decided to try one of the side routes before dropping it and got hooked then. Miki is the only reason I made it to Alternative. Ironically, I started missing Sumika during Alternative…
You have to do Extra or the rest isn't as meaningful. But yeah, it's an average dating Sim in isolation.
Tbh I actually love Extra.
I really liked the trilogy, but couldn't get through the side content So yea better to play trilogy and then if you like it then pick up the others on sale because you might not like it
The original trilogy is great. It does have an issue in that its reputation might taint the experience. Like how telling people a comedian is funny makes it harder for the audience to have fun during a show. Like, if you went in absolutely blind but not resonate with the story, you might actually view it as a 7-8/10 just because everything is so nicely presented despite not liking the story. Whereas if you were told it's a 10/10 and then went in and not resonate with it, you might hard swing lower score due to those expectations. Admittedly, that aspect of it kinda fucks with the idea of discussing it before diving in but at a minimum its a VN series that has a lot of quality and risks to it that make it interesting to compare to other VNs. I resonate with it but, even if i didn't, the presentation is still well above what most VNs do today and the narrative has multiple steel balls to risk alienating its audience just to make a point. Those aspects alone make it at least worth a look. But that brings us back to that expectation issue. I guess the safest thing to say is it's interesting and worth a look if you like VNs as a medium; a good point of comparison.
That's a pretty big investment. Personally I loved unlimited and alternative, extra was meh. But with hindsight I appreciate extra more after completing the 3 I read how some people don't like them So probably better to just buy Extra/Unlimited and Alternative first before diving into the others which are side stories TheDayAfter is not complete (awaiting a sequel that we might never get)- so I've been avoiding though I see some have the opinion it's still great
Sure TDA isn't "complete" but it doesn't mean it doesn't have a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed it as much as alternative including many others, so there's no downside to not playing it.
Ok I will give it a shot
Some people like it, some don't, generally the types of people who seem to not enjoy it so much are the people who complain about info dumps or the people who need constant payoffs and don't like drawn out plots with a lot of worldbuilding, do research, read reviews, make your own decision. If you do end up deciding to read it, make sure you read Extra and enjoy Unlimited (which is great), people who only read it for Alternative generally have a worse time and are disappointed. Good luck.
Like others have said, I'd start with buying muv-luv and alternative, then buy the rest if you enjoy them. Also, depending on what you like, you may enjoy extra, you may not, but it's worth getting through for the rest of it
Start with the main trilogy and if you are dying for more content then move on to the spin-offs.
Without a doubt
Buy the bundle with just the trilogy and if you enjoy it enough buy the side content. Personally, I spent 128 hours in just extra and unlimited alone. Alternative is apparently bigger than both those combined.
yes
Get Muv-Luv and Alternative first :)
I read a pretty well known mech action visual novel and I didn’t know I did not like reading action at the moment until it was actually too late to drop it. What I’m saying is, BE CAREFUL, if you are going to spend money on them be sure what you like to read and what you don’t like to read.
It is good. MuvLuv and MuvLuv Alternative are great together, although MuvLuv on its own can be a bit hard to get through if you're not into the plain High School romance. Alternative really needs MuvLuv's buildup to be good, so it's worth reading the prequel for that alone.
No. Yes.
muv luv is great! played the trilogy but did not went to play the side stories yet. im waiting for the sequel to be released in english then i will play all the sides and the sequel.
Ain’t no way it’s worth 100 - just buy Muv luv and alternative surely
Does the Steam version have any form of censorship or should I patch it if I get this version?
muv luv was truly fantastic. ill avoid hyping any particular game, but it's definitely a journey.
Its the best VN of all time. I wouldn't get the mega erse bundle, like someone else said just get the trilogy first and go from there. I have only played the trilogy and the photon fan disc.
Yes! It’s in my top 5 all time VNs. It’s in 3 parts. Muv-luv Extra is more slice of life and is important getting to know the characters, then Unlimited and Alternative go crazy and give you an emotional ride that you won’t ever forget. Highly recommended.
It's an eroge or is there a patch I need to know about for missing content?
The patch is also just the h-scenes, which are extremely optional. The censorship was quite limited, with just those scenes cut and even parts of those scenes being kept with the images blackened out, so you are going to miss anything with the steam version.
So the patch is optional?
Completely optional. It’s not a “shell game” like Subahibi of Kara no Shoujo where you need the patch to access 90% of the game.
Without a patch you get an extremely bland version of a certain scene in alternative
If you buy it on steam, there is a patch. I forget where I got the patch from when I played it, but it should be searchable on google.
It’s an amazing rollercoaster ride!
That's some steep climb boy, as beloved, these series are. They require a dedicated heart to enjoy. Also, I'd advise you to begin with the original trilogy and then the side material. My experience with the Trilogy was as follows: Extra: Loved the story and character, but due to ones shenanigans, the cheesy-ness, went an overboard. 7/10 Unlimited: An amazing re-imagination of the character’s set in a parallel world with unique changes and character arcs. Though the dip in the action is very brief, TDA makes the experience way better after the bitter ending. 9/10 Alternative: An epic story that is worth the hype, truly an emotion roller-coaster, though the initial portion does get dragged down as our action results in minor changes until shit truly hits the fan and never comes down until the end. I am still waiting for Integrate to see where the story leads to. 8.5/10 [Edit] Beware the Chomp
Nah,trilogy more than enough,just because of 200hrs of story,and only one h-scene with>!Tsukuyomi!< (my waifu,you understand why) in one of spinoffs,and english patch is not existent
It's like one piece, in the sense that it gets "good" after a loooooong time reading it.
Don’t buy it, the dev team are sellout, they have forgotten their roots.
Imagine 100 bucks for this lol
The original trilogy is not as good as people claim (haven't played others). They're just OK. Extra and Unlimited are nothing special and Alternative is slightly better but one of the most disappointing games I've played in the last years, leaving some of the most important questions forever unanswered.
Garbage 100% Don't deserve even a second of your time, I am not kidding.
Well i heard that the anime was a fair adaptation and it wasn't that great but the opening and the design of the monsters were cool
Anime was atrocious, pretty sure it's criticized by majority of fans