Shuuen no Virche-EpiC: lycoris: game review
Yesterday I finished playing Virche FD! I finished playing the first game almost a year ago. You can read my review here.
I started playing on the first day of release and it took me a week to finish. I will soon find out how many hours of gameplay was that.
I will avoid major spoilers in this review. There will be some minor out-of-context spoilers.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first impressions of the FD weren’t good, as I thought there would be at least a new story. But this is a FD and not a sequel to the game, so I shouldn’t have high expectations.
STORY CHOICE
The game is divided into these five parts:
1- Side Story: Interlude
43 side stories. They were fun, some of them with great CGs. Some I found tiring and unnecessary. But it was a cute addition to the FD. Nothing extraordinary, but it was ok.
2- Side End: Encore
Alternative endings for routes from the first game. Initially I was irritated at having to see flashbacks, repetitions and scenes similar to those in the first game, just with some variations.
But somehow, the game manages to make some of these routes interesting, exciting and with new things. I ended up really enjoying some routes, while others were more or less.
3- Virche de La coda: Émotion
Perhaps the most interesting part of the game. Here there are routes with few choices, more or less an after story. Here you find out if the characters finally had happy endings or salvation.
4- Tradition: Drifter
This is a new side story, but it is not a route. It’s a slightly longer story showing a new side character: Drifter. I really liked this story and the character. So that part of the game was enjoyable for me.
5- Virche de La salut: Ankou
Some people complained that in the first game Ankou didn’t exactly have a “proper” route (fact that can be interpreted in many ways). Anyway, he has his own route in the FD, yay! And it was a great route, so I can’t complain.
You unlock this after you finish “Tradition: Drifter”. Here you can see another new side character: Spinel. I also liked here.
Ankou also has something in Virche de La coda. Something pretty cool, I would say!
The game offers very complete and varied things. The duration and variation was adequate for a FD. My biggest complaint is that maybe I wanted a sequel to the game and not “just” a FD. But for a FD I think it was good enough.
But at the end of this review I will talk more about this. Now I will analyze the routes of each LI, in the order in which I played them.
LUCAS
Lucas was my favorite LI before I played the FD, so I started with him.
Side End: Encore
His route here was a bit repetitive at first, but I loved the endings. I even cried at one of them. Great CGs! Yes, it was kind of sad, as expected from Lucas’ route, but less sad compared to the first game.
Virche de La coda: Émotion
That was amazing!! His route here was a masterpiece! I loved the art and the CGs!
Whether Lucas had a happy ending or not is a matter of debate. He had a bittersweet ending, which some may consider good and others sad. I personally consider it a good ending.
ANKOU
I was curious about Ankou, so I played his route second, even though I know he’s probably recommended for last.
Virche de La salut: Ankou
I think it was the longest route in the game, but it was really good. They put a lot of effort into his route and I was pleased.
Virche de La coda: Émotion
Ankou’s after story is shorter, perhaps to compensate for the long route. But it was really beautiful, with fascinating CGs!! I think his fans can’t complain now. ;)
YVES
I cried on Yves’ route in the first game. His route in the first game is truly extraordinary! Our hero and gentleman made a great impression on me.
Side End: Encore
I found his route here a bit tiring. Compared to the first game, I wasn’t very impressed.
Virche de La coda: Émotion
Oooohhh!! Now we are talking.
Here Yves had a steamy and romantic scene, which took me completely by surprise. It will take me a while to recover from this. I liked very much!!
His endings were beautiful and I had a great feeling about his route here.
Sorry, I can’t stop laughing at Fuku. I love him! ^_^
SCIEN
His route was great in the first game! But I liked his route in the FD even more!
Side End: Encore
That was very interesting! I liked Scien a lot more after seeing this.
Virche de La coda: Émotion
AHHHHH!!! OMG THAT CGS!!!
You can always count on Scien for steamy scenes. He didn’t disappoint.
And the endings were beautiful and perfect. His route left me speechless. I would have considered his route the best in the game if I hadn’t played Mathis’ Side End.
ADOLPHE
His route was very good in the first game, so I was a little disappointed with his route in the FD.
Side End: Encore
That was so sad!! Very sad endings! His route was tiring and some endings were brutal. Well, those were interesting endings.
Virche de La coda: Émotion
Ehhhh it was ok I guess?
Overall, I found Adolphe’s route to be the least interesting in the game. But there are some good things.
MATHIS
Well, here we are!! I have a lot to say about his route.
I left Mathis for last because he was my least favorite LI. I didn’t dislike him. But I found his route in the first game to be the least interesting.
Side End: Encore
Wow.
His route here is PERFECT! The best route in the game.
I know some will disagree with me. But I don’t care, because that’s exactly what I felt: best route, period.
Halfway through Side End I decided that Mathis would be my new favorite LI. Yes, he was promoted from last place to first!
Mathis’ route was the biggest surprise of the game for me. Best surprise ever.
I livetweeted the entire game. But Mathis’ route was the one that I put the least CGs and spoilers, as I considered his route to be the one with the most spoilers.
This is just my opinion, you may have a different position. But I will defend my opinion, because that’s exactly what I felt playing.
Virche de La coda: Émotion
Mathis’ route here wasn’t as good as Side End, but I was satisfied. I loved the CGs!
My ranking for the LIs after playing the first game:
1- Lucas
2- Ankou
3- Yves
4- Scien
5- Adolphe
6- Mathis
My ranking now, after playing the FD:
1- Mathis
2- Lucas
3- Scien
4- Ankou
5- Yves
6- Adolphe
Yeah, I must have made you curious to play Mathis’ route. But look forward to Scien’s route too! Mathis’ route was good in Side End, but Scien’s route was good in Virche de La coda. Oh, each route was unique!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Many people who played the first game are wondering if the FD is worth playing. So much has already happened in the first game, so what else needs to happen?
Unfortunately this is a FD and not a sequel to the game. If you play the FD expecting a new story, you will be disappointed.
However, if you play the game with expectations of what a FD offers (side stories, after stories, not many new features) you might like.
I’m biased in evaluating Virche, as I’m a big fan of the game. I’m just happy for the opportunity to see my boys again. I don’t feel this way about all otome games, but I feel about Virche.
A lot of people don’t like Virche’s bad endings and want to know if our boys got happy endings in the FD. Some people don’t want to play the FD to get depressed again.
I think the FD has endings that will please everyone: some happy endings (in a traditional sense of the word), some bittersweet endings, some sad endings, some brutal and bloody endings.
There are FDs of some otome games that offer many new things. So I think that even though it’s a FD they could have put more new things in Virche.
Virche FD is far from perfect. I can imagine people complaining about a lot of things, and rightly so. But I can also see a lot of fans of the first game having fun. I’m in both categories: I complained, but I had fun.
I give Virche FD 9/10.
I think I would give 9,5 or even 10 for the first game. I think the first game was better. But this was a great addition to the first one.
I don’t think it was an essential addition. There are no big revelations about the plot or anything like that. But there are new and interesting scenes for the LIs.
I recommend this game because I had fun. Because I like Virche and I like stories with dark elements.
Thanks for reading this! I hope this review has intrigued you to play the game and find out for yourself what you think. :)
