I’d like to firstly establish the fact that I don’t really play very many visual novels. In fact I have only played Fate/Stay Night, Narcissu, Princess Waltz and Saya no uta. I hope you’ll pardon my ignorance if I miss out on any of the ‘better’ visual novels, which I will get to eventually. I also hope I don’t come across as being too facetious or pompous. Everything written below expresses my opinion and is by no means a fact.
I would have a very difficult time describing Princess Waltz. It’s not a mindless sex romp but at the same time, the story isn’t very compelling and there is no diversity in choices to justify the mostly linear gameplay. Some sequences I felt could be cut out entirely as it did little to develop the characters or deepen/advance the story (like the scene where Angela is stuck in some void, fighting off the guardians. This scene was never really explained or had much meaning). Let’s not forget the meal scenes, apparently it’s required for any visual novel to exist. At least Princess Waltz’s iteration of it was okay and sparse, unlike the constant barrage of meal scenes in Fate/Stay Night which were a pain to sit through, especially with Taiga.(God help me if I was ever locked in a room with her). The characters are somewhat likeable but fall into clichÈs (Rich brat Angela, goofy Lun-Lun, don’t forget the mandatory ‘good girl’ Suzushiro ect.) which make it hard to honestly say you won’t expect what they’ll do next. Or the story for that matter.
Ah, the story. Six princesses risking their lives all for a prince, I’m sure that won’t have any sexually degrading implications whatsoever. The feminists are going to have a field day. A personal gripe I have is that every heroine swoons to Arata without much if any input from him.(You know, besides, the compulsory pep talk that boosts the Princesses morale, even if it sucks. And it always does.) I snicker every time I see something like this. It just blew any semblance of the Princesses being actual people away. This is exacerbated when Arata is discovered to be, lo and behold, the prince(well, the other half anyway). When I say the Princesses only exist to serve Arata, it really shows. No matter which princess you choose, the rest will be fine with it. Never mind they just made (what I want to believe) a difficult sacrifice to sleep with him, they got rejected anyway. But you now what? That’s fine. And not the ‘fine’ Sekai was with Makoto in that last episode. They will still support their incredible prince anyway.(Don’t you love the scene at the fortress/castle where they argue over whose prince it is?) You know what, it’s all for the best because Arata is a douche. He boldly proclaims that Chris is the only love in his life (at least numero uno) before having sex with another princess and telling her how much he loves her. Additionally, he knows and I quote ‘no other way’ to synchronise with the other princesses other than to sleep with them. What an ace. And though this all? The princess in question is 100% fine with it. I’m just glad Arata didn’t need to synchronise with ALL the princesses. Speaking of sexual implications, remember the rings that allowed Chris and Arata to transform into Iris? Well, apparently prolonged exposure makes the princess in question want to have sex with you. Badly. Another tacky theme which didn’t need to be there. In fact for a Visual Novel that seems to set itself up for a wild orgy it has few such scenes, (which are tasteless and too graphic for me anyway as all scenes in Visual Novels are) which I find odd. Another oddity is the fact that Chris chose to go to school, where her secret could be exposed, when she could have simply avoided it altogether. Of course she couldn’t meet pimp daddy Arata(though it’ll probably be for the best) and then where would this Visual Novel be?
The only choices in this game are basically which princess you want to have sex with. It’s crude but true. There is a grand total (correct me if I’m wrong) of four choices at three different scenes(in Chris manor). That’s really all there is to it.
Improvements could have been made in so many places. The Visual Novel felt quite haphazard and it shows, as mentioned before there is a distinct lack of focus. Personally I feel that most of the story has to be overhauled if it wants to be taken even somewhat seriously. I would have preferred being able to pick and stick to a princess from and get go (and not having to put up with Chris) with divergent, unique stories for each princess.(Not having to be Arata and instead a character you shape would be a huge plus too.) Overall, this is a game which is mediocre at best. While I personally still like it, I feel it lacks substance. Most Visual Novels and so called ‘romantic comedy’ or ‘romance’ anime are plagued by so many clichÈs (especially the above and including but not limited to perfect characters* see maid sama) that has long since over saturated the Japanese market. I can only hope this is a dying trend and more quality works like Death Note (though I hope it will be translated to Visual Novel form, the success that is) will be produced.
