The Language Of Love - While I’m a fan of most games, but my least favorite has to be romance and visual novels. There is something aboutThe Language Of Love - While I’m a fan of most games, but my least favorite has to be romance and visual novels. There is something about these tales that leaves me always looking for a bit more. Is it the predictable nature of the plots, with very few twists and or turns, or is it that I just the fact I am an old-school gamer. I know is that I steer clear of these types of stories on a personal level and don’t mind reviewing them for what they do offer for fans of the genre. Whenever I’m offered a visual novel to review I rarely turn them down, mainly because I love reading, but I also like the break away from fast-paced games from time to time for a different experiemce. The Language Of Love is a melancholy tale that takes you on a trip of isolation, loneliness, friendship and love. Developed by Ebi-Hime and published by Ratalaika Games. This is a strong combination that brings another touching and in depth visual novel to an expanding Western market. The tale revolves around three primary characters, Mitsuki, Kyouko, and Kyouko’s daughter, Tama. She is a cute little thing, A chance encounter with her at the beginning of this story sets you on your path, and without her, Mitsuki would be destined to live a lonely life. The plot is a rather depressing story. It focuses a lot of its energy on both of the leads lives are filled with loneliness, and how they must help one another become happy. I’ve played several visual novels, and what I’ve have enjoyed from them is the interactive approach in altering the story through my decisions throughout. he Language Of Love doesn’t follow this traditional structure it runs its plot as the developer wants the story to run it’s course. It was odd to sit back and be a voyeur for this game. I found that this unusual approach made me more engrossed in the characters and the story. Because I didn’t have to stop and overthink how I thought it should play out my decisions as much, I could relax and wait to see how the author wanted their story to evolve. It felt more like a traditional novel using this method, and though I didn’t have any influence on what was happening, I loved the world that had been created, and enjoyed how the action unfolded. Another area that I found unusual compared to the others in the genre, was the lack of characters. Other than the three main ones, you interact with a few other individuals at key moments in the story, and that’s it. I guess it was Ebi-Hime’s way of highlighting the lonely existence that the lead characters were experiencing, it left me wanting more. It would have been nice to see more faces, and to know if the main character’s perception of the world was correct, or if they were creating their own isolated novel. Talking about the world in this game, it’s beautiful to look at. The art is stunning, and full of detail. The scenes move to a variety of locations that not only well crafted, but they worked with the theme of the game. The art style was bold and colorful, and a joy to look at. Each of the characters had the traditional over the top reaction to any dialogue which I love, as it’s so absurd that you can’t help but laugh. The developers used color and tone alongside the text to add emotion. This delivery method worked surprisingly well and helped me to empathize with each of the characters. The audio was charming and had a classic feel to it with a modern day twist.. Using silence and simple sound effects reiterated the sense of loneliness. The lack of spoken dialogue will not be everyone’s taste, but I prefer it this way, as all the other elements of imagination have been removed. The audio was simple and worked really well within this game.
As with all visual novels, the controls are very easy to follow, and will not concern you. The only thing that you will want to be aware of is the fact that you can skip all the dialogue if you wish, but if you do this, you’ll miss the whole story, so I’d suggest not doing this. With the lack of dialogue choices, the replay value is definitely reduced. However, the long winded story will provide you with around six hours of reading to enjoy. A simple achievement list can be unlocked by finishing the novel. This isn’t because the tale isn’t interesting, it’s down to the lack of different outcomes that defer my playing through it again. I opened with the statement that I dislike romantic stories, so If I can mage to review them without being a bad experience you should truly enjoy it as a fan of the genre. However if your not a fan of the genre there is nothing here that’s revolutionary to change your mind. IF you don’t mind a chance of pace in your Xbox games library definitely give this one a try for those who may be new to the genre. The story is what saves this experience for me and the approach of not over analyzing so it was a nice change in the visual romance novels I have experienced over the years.… Expand
