#I seriously loved the CGs. Especially in Reqieu's route.

[wonderfulwonderland]

Magical Otoge Iris review

I'll be upfront and say that on an emotional level, I'd give this game a 9/10. But honestly, it's probably an 8/10. I'll detail why, and also give some tips about how I think you should play this game.

MOI is about Iris, who grew up as an orphan and was adopted by Val, a Magician's familiar. Magicians are guardians of the worlds, and Iris inherited a part of a Magician's power. Growing up she was pretty lonely, except for her childhood friend Rieffe. However, he disappears during their childhood. When Iris grows up, she becomes a Purifier, purifying corrupted spirits so they can pass onto the afterlife. She has a teacher named Reqieu (it's canon that nobody knows how to spell or say his name) who she is close with. The Magician Wynrou gives her a super special lance that is so special it is a spirit, a glasses-wearing grumpy guy named Lanneis. As Iris gets more involved with the Magicians, she meets one of the Magicians, Septem, who records people's lives before they pass onto the afterlife. The LI's sprites are below: top left is Rieffe, top right is Reqieu, bottom left is Lanneis, bottom right is Septem. Sprites and the art below are from here: https://toyhou.se/batensan

The story has a ton of characters, all of whom I love. They are all lovely and funny and distinct. Batensan's humor is very meta and there's lots of cute and funny scenes. However, they're also super good at angst and making me sad :''(. The combination of visuals, text, and music are so well done here, and I can truly feel the emotions of the scene. They've managed to make the text shake and bounce which really adds to the intensity of a scene, and there's some fantastic scenes where I was holding my breath. Their art has also continued to get better and better and I love so many of the CGs in this game. I put an example below of Batensan's art, it's not a CG from the game but captures their style. I loved learning more about the fantasy setting of the Magical Otoge worlds, learning about the Magicians, and getting little glimpses of future and previous stories! If you've played the other games in the Magical Otoge series (which you definitely should) you'll love learning more about everything! It's cool how well thought out the setting is, and I was impressed by the volume of characters and stories within this game. There are little side episodes with certain characters that do a great job of building friendships or telling short, heartwarming stories. Batensan is really good at creating wonderful characters, beautiful stories, and making you ~feel~ things. They're also not afraid of exploring the darker side of characters; not all of these characters are saints by any stretch of the imagination. It's definitely not as fluffy and pure as their previous games.

My main criticism of the game is that the first playthrough felt pretty long and not in a fun way. I was interested in how the main plot was going to resolve, but after the route selection there's some meandering about and short episodes with side stories for different characters. It interrupts the momentum of the story, and I felt kind of adrift and unsure when or whether we'd get back to the main plot. It felt that way for the LI's story as well. I loved the shenanigans and characters and so on, but from a story perspective it felt somewhat fragmented. I started to love this game once I replayed the next routes, as I got to skip through a lot of the filler and just see the route-specific content. It felt a lot more streamlined and cohesive.

A few tips: (1) Pace yourself for your first playthrough. The game is somewhat episodic in nature, so play it for a while, and then feel free to leave it for a bit and pick it up again later. Trying to binge-play it is kind of tiring since it's hard to tell how far along you are in the story.

(2) I'd suggest playing the routes in the order they're listed. I think Rieffe's route ties in really well with the overarching story about the Magicians and so on, and gets you more invested in the setting. I played Lanneis's route first, which I think was a mistake, as it's more fluffy and Lanneis-specific rather than tied to the bigger picture. So do Lanneis second, then Reqieu 3rd. Reqieu's is more angsty than Lanneis, so you get Rieffe (angst) - Lanneis (less angst) - Reqieu (angst). An angst sandwich! Septem's is locked for last, and Reqieu's route also leads well into his.

(3) Play all the endings! Yes, even the bad ones. I think they're all really well done. At the very least, do Reqieu's and Septem's.

I really enjoyed this game (especially during my subsequent playthroughs), and I find the story and setting unique and intriguing. Despite this author's reputation for humor (Magical Otoge Ciel), they're also excellent at angst and feels. This was a magical story full of friendship and love (with a dash of sadness and despair), and I'm looking forward to whatever the creator makes next!