#THE LABYRINTH OF GRISAIA DPWM;PAD SERIES#
It should be noted that despite providing this alternate series of events, the route itself mostly consists of a detailed look into Yuuji’s past, not unlike the backstories of the five girls that were presented in Fruit.įor the most part, this route is a welcome return to form drama and humor are elegantly balanced as you delve into the darker and happier moments of Yuuji’s life, finally fleshing out his mature, but otherwise fairly straightforward “silent protagonist” personality. Set in an alternate canon where Yuuji didn’t commit to a single relationship with any of the girls while still resolving their individual issues, the Grand Route provides the meat of the story in Labyrinth. Additionally, the action sequences haven’t improved at all, and Frontwing decided to double down on these moments for some of the after stories, further dragging them down into mediocre waters.įortunately, the Grand Route proves to be a much more decisively engaging experience. Glaring typos rear their ugly heads much more frequently than before, and the fan service is especially egregious this time around, even putting some of the racier moments in Fruit to shame. But on the other hand, the quality of the writing here feels much weaker than before, both creatively and technically. On the one hand, it’s great seeing the cast have a good time time after all of their trials and tribulations in the first game, and there were plenty of genuinely heartwarming moments in the hours that I spent reading through these after stories. The after stories themselves are, for better or worse, bite-sized slice-of-life romps which can be completed in just a couple of hours. Labyrinth leaves it to your discretion which route you wish to get started with, but I’d highly recommend going through all of the after stories before starting the Grand Route. The new direction in the writing already becomes clear in the opening menu of the game five after stories of the individual routes from Fruit and an additional “Grand Route” make their appearance here.
The Labyrinth of Grisaia attempts to continue on in much the same fashion, but it heads in an entirely new direction with its story, with mixed results. If there ever was a winning formula for a visual novel, Frontwing certainly found and got a firm understanding of it with the first entry in their flagship series. The humor was refreshing, the writing was intelligent (for the most part), and no character felt like they got the short end of the stick with their routes for the sake of a corny main romance. I loved The Fruit of Grisaia for a variety of reasons.