Magical Diary

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16

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  1. ghorahn
    Jul 5, 2012
    7
    This game's mechanics basically fall into two categories: (1) Dialogue tree interaction, which is used to push the story along various paths, and (2) going to 'classes' (and doing other similar activities) to develop your character's magical (and some non-magical) skills, which you use a handful of times over the course of the school year to do short dungeons, each of which is an 'exam'This game's mechanics basically fall into two categories: (1) Dialogue tree interaction, which is used to push the story along various paths, and (2) going to 'classes' (and doing other similar activities) to develop your character's magical (and some non-magical) skills, which you use a handful of times over the course of the school year to do short dungeons, each of which is an 'exam' for school. After the first play-through (which just took a few hours), I wasn't too excited about playing through it again. But then I looked at the achievements and saw that the variety of things you can do in the game is actually quite a bit wider than I thought. So, since then, I've played through it a bunch of times and just recently finishes all the steam achievements. Mind you, I like the anime style, I'm quite happy to play a female character (despite not being female myself), although this may explain why I kept romantically pursuing my cute-but-dowdy roommate Ellen on most every playthrough. I kinda wish the game offered a far broader variety of possible in-game events and that there weren't always the same core group of characters that the story revolves around (your two roommates and a part-demon boy who's assigned as your Sempai during initiation), but I still got a fair amount of mileage out of the game. I can't promise that you'll like it, but I did.… Expand
  2. BraceHare
    Aug 3, 2013
    6
    Too little choice, in terms of both your endgame options and in terms of your ability to characterize your own character. Reading long pre-written conversations when I know I would react differently in real life removes any sense of agency. At those moments where it was a game, though, it was good for what it was, and the writing wasn't terrible, although the characters were... well...IToo little choice, in terms of both your endgame options and in terms of your ability to characterize your own character. Reading long pre-written conversations when I know I would react differently in real life removes any sense of agency. At those moments where it was a game, though, it was good for what it was, and the writing wasn't terrible, although the characters were... well...I don't want to say 2-dimensional per-se, but most had the kind of depth you would expect from a high school student. I guess these are high school students though, so maybe that was actually good writing! I dunno.… Expand
  3. FurthestFlung
    Apr 7, 2013
    7
    This is far from a bad game, but a game I'd like to like more than I actually did. It promises character customization, but it's really only cosmetic except for the classes you take in-game to give yourself new spells, which is to say that early-game customization is limited to picking your haircut.

    This game might look like it has dungeon-crawling RPG elements in it, but don't be    This is far from a bad game, but a game I'd like to like more than I actually did. It promises character customization, but it's really only cosmetic except for the classes you take in-game to give yourself new spells, which is to say that early-game customization is limited to picking your haircut.

    This game might look like it has dungeon-crawling RPG elements in it, but don't be fooled, this is pretty much pure Visual Novel of the "spreadsheet statistics" variety with a minigame thrown in to check the numbers you've put on your spreadsheet.

    With that said, the world itself is certainly engaging, and Hanako Games certainly took the time to write in basically every conceivable configuration of paths down a conversation tree that they or fans could think of.

    A game like this ultimately rests entirely upon its characters and story, and I ultimately found myself enjoying getting to know most (with a few disturbing exceptions) of the quite colorful characters and the world as a whole.

    The world deserves some special mention, as well at first blush, it's just a Harry Potter ripoff, but the world actually goes deeper than that, and has an old Fairy Tale feel, where the magic isn't whimsical as in Potter (at least, the early books,) but rather the entire concept of the magical creatures has a very dark side to them. Fairies may be beautiful, but they'll also steal your baby away, never to be seen again because of fickle and hardly-explained rules that put you slightly on edge. (As opposed to evil being personified by Death Eaters with a name and face, the "evil" here is more of a nebulous, but ever-present threat.)

    For someone who likes a darker Grimm Tales version of magic, it's quite intriguing.

    Ultimately, I'm left wanting more, and that's probably the best argument for any story-based game like this.

    Unfortunately, I was also left wanting more puzzles in the dungeon minigames, as well. It felt like such a waste to have this huge list of spells I learned in class, and then only have one chance to even use some of the later-game spells.    … Expand

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  1. DarkZero
    Jun 22, 2012
    60
    While I understand the irony in despising a game meant for a female audience, I really cannot love this game simply because of the female inclination. Had a little bit more love (or the promise of an expansion pack) been put into this game, I may not dislike it so much.
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