I got this game from Himeya. After completed 80% of the game, I have to say I really enjoy XC:A. XC3 was great when it came out, but XCA is better in several area.
Firstable, the ‘raping bus’ thing in previous XC is gone - thank God.
Graphics quality improves greatly, especially the background. Its clear to see they put in a lot of effort.
Character design is different to previous game but equally nice - if not better. To be honest I like XCA’s character design better than the one in previous XC game. However, I feel there should be a little more character expression done for a bit more variety.
Story - I think Crowd is taking a slight more
‘serious’ approach in this game, which is great. Generally you don’t get to have sex scene everywhere like previous XC games. Instead, sex scene are only used if necessary for story. The story spends more time on the character development, help player getting more involved in his perspective, and how he interact with the person around him.
The main character, Kaoru, as ijuin_kun pointed out, is trying to be manly. He hated being called girly, and will beat the hell out of whoever call him that. Thus, when he get turned into a girl, apart from physically weaker, he also need to get used to things he hated being previously - being a girl. The CV acting is pretty good too! Hearing Kaoru as a girl talking like a man is so funny
I wouldn’t want to spoil the rest of the story for you - its however safe to say - very good. There are also many humour spots and that really make me laugh
The endings and branching possibilities are however less than XC3 games. Some endings are ok-ish in my opinion, but there are 3 that I think is great.
Overall, I think this game is really worth playing, especially if you enjoy the previous XC games I am also looking forward to the English version from Peach Princess (which I hope they will translate too), there are some part of the game that my Japanese aren’t good enough to clearly understand
[This message has been edited by Jyhnc (edited 11-27-2004).]