Visual Novel Review: Skights III
7/22/2014Skights III came out sooner than I expected, haha. Not that I'm complaining though! :) I'm actually pushing back the list of my "to-play" visual novels to make some time for this. Mehehehe. :3 I really adore fairytale stories you know. *winks*
Ahem. Anyway, like I said, this is the third installment to the Skights series. You can read my review of the first episode here, and the second episode here.
.png)
I have to commend the creator for this VN, Sonya X. The story just keeps getting better and better! Episode 3 features the heir to the Cocoa kingdom, a Chocolate named Cassandra. Aww, I wanna nickname her Casey. (Ahem, ahem, Cassandra is the real name of Casey, the protagonist of Summer Paradise.)
CHARACTER REVIEW
Cassandra
Cassandra, or Cara, if we go by her alias, is the last heir to the Cocoa Kingdom. Her family was killed in the last episode when the Caramel knights attacked their home, intending to usurp them. Fortunately, Cassandra escaped. Unfortunately, she now has nowhere to go, and the Caramel soldiers are searching every nook and cranny of Sugaria for her. Thankfully --or maybe not so thankfully-- a familiar pink Cotton Candy knight saves her when she falls into the lake. Should she trust this knight? Or should she be wary of his true intentions...?
I really like Cassandra. My goodness, I think I like her better than Nessie now. Sure, she can be a proud little spoiled brat, but she has a good heart, and I like that. She feels... real, you know? Like a real person, with all the complexities and different attitudes. Hahaha. So, yeah, I like her. And so far, I think the writer did a good job with her character development.
Peppermint Clowns
I never really liked peppermint. Hahahaha. Ever since I was 7 years old, I've been a huge fan of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I swear, I loved that series! Hahaha. In 2nd grade I'd always stay inside the classroom whenever I had a new ASOUE book, because I couldn't get enough of the series! The "unfortunate" siblings there had an allergy to peppermints. And well, I... actually just wanted to say that. Haha! I never really liked peppermints. I just wanted to reminisce about that series. Fooled you there, didn't I? Haha, kidding.
Anyway, the clown twins are named Jenna and Kyle. Hmm... so far Kyle seems okay, but Jenna is a bit on the sadistic side I think. However, I didn't get any "evil" vibe from them, I swear! True, they're a bit brash... and quite mean, but... I don't think they're evil. Hahaha. Or maybe I've seen enough movies that the Peppermint Duo just pales in comparison. Anyway, they did a "bad" thing to Cassandra, but... honestly. Honestly people, if you believed that the Chocolates had to captured, maybe because they were apparently plotting something evil, would you not point them too to the last Chocolate's location?
I invoke my right to remain silent. Hahaha.
Colin
You must be wondering why Colin is here again. Hmmm, I noticed something. Out of all the characters, Colin is the only character who has appeared in all three episodes. Plot twist! Colin is actually the main character. HAHA, kidding. But anyway, in this episode, you'll get really confused at the Cotton Candy man's true intentions, as he was really-- and I mean really-- nice and kind-hearted. :o He was actually quite the gentleman. And you know, this is really weird, bu... I'm starting to think that maybe... maybe, something fishy's going on in Sugaria. And it's not Colin.
LIKES
+ The story is just so asdfghjkl; awesome. Hahaha! I swear, it really does keep getting better and better with every episode! :") I just can't wait for episode 4. Hahaha. I mean, episode 3 did come out sooner than I expected, so I hope episode 4's release isn't too far away from now~+ The art didn't change of course! So I still like it. The style is really nice.
+ I know I've been saying this in my previous reviews of the other episodes, but, let me say it again. The animation is awesome! Actually, it's not... real animation, just minor stuff like rain and splashing of water... and the moving backgrounds and characters... ahhh, I like them nonetheless. Haha. I actually feel a bit amazed everytime a special "animation" appears on the screen.
+ I like Casey-- I mean Cassandra. Haha. She's got the spunk! Hahaha. However, she gets a bit submissive with the Peppermint Duo, simply because she thought she could have some benefit by doing so. Nevertheless, I like her and her braveness. Even though she is-- as expected-- a proud little future Countess, she's also seems to be a nice girl with a determined spirit.
DISLIKES
- My worst gripe about the writing is back! -___- If you've played one of my games, you'll see that I find ellipses important to use. As a matter of fact, I am a huge fan of using them in my own visual novels to portray shy or hesitant characters. Or to show sentences that trail off. Haha. However, in this episode, I think ellipses were used way too much.I use ellipses like... yeah, like this. Like... this. Haha. That's how I personally use them. But to see them used as ".......why.....y...you didn't......." is sort of distracting after a while. But maybe this is a personal preference? I don't know! I'm just... not used to it. Hahahaha.
Anyway, that's about it. The "skip" button which I disliked in the previous episode is apparently just a site glitch, so that's that. However, I am still giving this 7/10 strawberries, a point lower than the last, simply because of my gripe with the writing. ^^ No matter how beautiful the art is, or how awesome everything else is actually, the writing and the story are still my main priorities when reviewing. Those are the things that make me stay, after all. ;)
Still, I absolutely recommend you guys try out this series. It's really pretty lovely, I swear!
1 berries
This post has spoilers and theories, just warning you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, definitely something odd going on in Sugaria. The Monarchy seems to be rather corrupt. The Caramel Count guy flat out murdered the Chocolates (no trial, no public execution, right at their house) on orders of the king himself. My guess is the Chocolates found out something wrong about the king and spoke out against him. Lysander is probably innocent but not sure yet, he might be somewhat involved. Colin may have known the Chocolates, or worked with them against the king. That would explain why he would want to poison Lysander, either because he believed Lysander to be part of the problem or to send a message to the King. That would also explain why Colin knew who Cassandra was and felt bound to protect her (other than the fact he's a nice guy). I'm thinking Colin is an anti-hero kinda guy. A bit of an extremist whose heart is in the right place. He believes or actually knows the king and his court are evil and therefore wishes to deal with the corruption. That or he did know the Chocolates well and his actions are motivated by revenge.
Another fishy thing is the pirates raiding the Strawberry Country. Pirates loot and plunder, yet all we've seen them do is kidnap isolated wild savages. (SPOILERS about what they do with their captives follow)
The pirates then dump their captives overboard. There seems to be little economic gain from this. My far fetched theory is that the king is paying off the pirates to do so in order to scare the people into thinking they are in danger. This would mean they would demand better protection. The king could then increase security and limit freedoms, turning his kingdom into a dictatorship of sorts so he could have total control of all the kingdoms, starting with the Strawberry land. It would also make sense as to why the pirates don't even seem to know why they're kidnapping folk. The king wouldn't want too many people knowing about his scheme so only the top dogs (pirate captain, Caramel Count, maybe Lysander) would be aware of the truth.
Really enjoying this series oddly enough, can't believe it to be honest. I still can't remember how I even found it, or why I played it, but I've really had a good time. Art, music, characters, and story are all surprisingly good.
Have some thoughts, opinions, or experiences to share?