Edelweiss

Written by Jason Young  on February 24, 2009

Review: Dammit, I knew I should have scored better on my SATs!!!

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With the departure of Hirameki International several months ago, the visual novel scene has been a barren landscape in the U.S. with the exception of JAST USA and its subsidiaries Peach Princess and G-Collections. However, thanks to the European group MangaGamer.com, that's no longer the case. Focusing on big broad visual novels that are well known among the otaku subculture, MangaGamer managed to get a hold of big productions such as Circus' Da Capo as well as Overdrive's Edelweiss and its expansion/sequel Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia.

As the first major release for the company, Edelweiss is a bit of a mixed bag. The first thing you'll notice is that while the storyline and characters are entertaining, the translation is a bit all over the place. Although it's nowhere near the disaster from when the game was initially released back in August, it's still pretty bad. From basic present/past participle mistakes to misusing quotations, this is a classic case of a game needing an editor badly. That said, it doesn't prevent the game from being unplayable, it just makes it really distracting. Considering that this was the company's first big release it's excusable; however if this trend continues into the future I fear that they might not be around in the long run.



Editorial issues aside, the game's drama-comedy coming-of-age storyline is somewhat of a cross between Superbad and Fullmetal Alchemist. So while the game isn't a dramatic tour-de-force like Key's Kanon or CLANNAD, there are still several unexpected twists and turns in the game. The story focuses on Kazushi and his friends who pass a rigorous entrance exam in order to attend a former all-girls school. Located on an isolated island, the boys believe that it's a ticket to scoring with the girls on the island. After they nearly get thrown out for their misadventures, they discover that the school focuses on teaching alchemy to their students and the principles and ethics that goes along with it. The primary problem with the story comes from the game's execution. The middle often feels uninspired and drab compared to the endings of most arcs as if the author didn't know what exactly he was doing. The reader recieves most of the information that he/she needs to know within the last two hours of the game making each arc feel too similar and rushed. In addition, all of the girls feels extremely archetypal and don't really do anything to stand out admist the eroge gaming crowd.

Similar to other branching-style visual novels, Edelweiss has five different paths for the player to choose from. As expected each of the girl's has a personal problem and it's up to the main character to help her solve it. Plot choices are hardly present in the game, so saving at the right point will allow the player to run through all the endings relatively quickly.

What makes Overdrive's game unique from the rest of the currently translated English visual novels however is the game's high budget presentation. For starters, the character's mouths are actually synced with the dialogue on screen; a much welcomed addition after playing many games that lacked that feature. Second, every path in the game has its own unique credits music. Although none of the vocal tracks are particularly memorable, with the exception of the opening theme Ashberry.

Graphically, the game has a nice contrast between its use of green, orange, and yellow hues. The line-art is absolutely amazing while the backgrounds are just interesting enough for the player to not get bored of staring at them for multiple hours on end. Soundtrack wise the game's composer doesn't do too much to stand out from the crowd, although they suit the mood just fine. On the other hand, the game's voice actors/actresses do a pretty good job at conveying the necessary emotions with only a few voices bordering on annoying.