Muv Luv Alternative

So a while a go, I finished G-senjou no Maou, and it left me gasping for breath and begging for more. Visual novels of such quality are few and far between, and so I went hunting for something that would sate my intense thirst for a game of similar or greater quality. I wasn't sure where I'd find it, given that G-senjou no Maou had just topped my rather-large list of visual novels I've played through in terms of quality, but at long last I settled on one, and let me tell you, after finishing it only an hour ago, I am in awe.

Getting straight to the point, Muv-Luv Alternative has to be the single highest quality visual novel I have played to date. One of the first things I read about MLA when I was checking it out to see if I was interested in it was that it had very high production values. This was apparent within the first ten minutes of gameplay, as the backgrounds are constantly shifted and altered in such a smooth manner that the motion of a mech is simulated to great effect. At times I forgot I wasn't watching an anime. All things considered, MLA is a visual novel in the strictest sense--there are no alternate endings or branching paths to the game. There are only a handful of minor sequences in which your choices affect the events that take place, but the outcome of those events is always the same regardless of your decisions.

I didn't realize this until much later into playing MLA, but I suspect the linear story may have something to do with the fact that MLA is actually an alternate universe of the first two stories, Muv Luv Extra and Unlimited. From what I can tell, Extra was your typical lighthearted high school dating visual novels with love-related drama and whatnot. Finding that out impressed the living hell out of me, frankly, because this game and the tone of the story it tells did not feel like they came out of a company that could write something so lighthearted. Meanwhile, Unlimited was set in a nearly-identical universe to Alternative's, where events transpired differently. It's a very interesting idea that I deeply regret not being able to experience the way it was intended.

I'll leave a more specific discussion open for a later date since I haven't slept, but I'd like to hear the opinions of others on this game if they've played it. After playing G-senjou no Maou I knew it'd be hard to find a game that could top my expectations, but MLA did just that, and then proceeded to blow those expectations out of the water. The soundtrack fits the mood perfectly, despite not being terribly memorable other than the main theme; I accredit this, however, to the fact that the storyline is so incredibly enthralling that I didn't have much attention left to pay the music. The characters and their development is top-notch in that even minor side characters feel properly fleshed out and human. The drama is painful in all the right ways, and the story just has a way of dragging you in and forcing you along for the ride. If any game deserves a 10 out of 10, it's this one.

Let the opinions roll in.

I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure I can't write a good enough description for Muv Luv Alternative. It's too much awesomeness in one game so instead of reading this thread, you should be reading it =P

Muv Luv Alternative sets us in a universe very similar to the one in Unlimited however, things get a whole lot different and by this I also mean a whole lot better and interesting. Though there were some scenes that I didn't enjoy that much (when we were literally being lectured for example), when I was playing Alternative, I was completely immersed in it since it has a fantastic way to present the story to us with all of it's themes and all the animations used being together with a really good soundtrack just added on my immersion. It can also be added the excellent characterization and the fact you can note personal growth and for me it was other thing I really liked. I felt a lot of things during my play playthrough of Alternative and I'll never forget the feeling I had when I finished it.

To ensure the maximum enjoyment possible, you absolutely must play Muv Luv Extra and Unlimited even if you don't find them interesting. You will certainly regret reading Alternative without reading Extra and Unlimited first.

For now I'll say this. It's been some months since I finished Alternative and I don't remember many things but it's still one of the best Visual Novels that I have ever read. I rated it a 10/10.

Yeah, since I didn't have the opportunity to play Extra and Unlimited first, I've gone back and started Extra. I like that the art style is just as good, though the UI seems to have been vastly improved in Alternative. Still, it's a nice breather seeing these familiar characters in the way they were originally portrayed.

I'm with you guys in giving this game a perfect 10 score. It's almost funny that I discovered it by accident: I was lurking around trying to find some decen V/N to play (I had just finished Kara no Shoujo so i wanted very high quality stuff), then I bumped into Extra. At first I dismissed it since it was a "mere" highschool romantic comedy, but then curiosity won and I played it. Well, what the hell, it was truly good and a refreshing experience, plus the big surprise of Unlimited that completely overturned the game from lighthearted comedy into dark and edgy military drama.

Then came Alternative. Well, to be blunt, I was completely caught by surprise. It's just THAT awesome, I played it more than twice and still find it the most entertaining and epic visual novel to date. Granted, it has its flaws, namely very long dialogues filled with technical jargon which, though very important to the plot, are a bit difficult to digest at first. Still, the sheer epicness of the story and the characters (from mere high schoolers to soldiers with balls of stainless steel), plus the mind-blowing action scenes and the MANY truly tear-jerking moments more than made up for the mentioned "flaws" (which aren't even flaws per se).

Well, that's it. I would lastly correct amorim on one thing: to TRULY enjoy Muv-Luv, play Extra (all routes), Unlimited (all routes) and ONLY THEN play Alternative. Yes, it's tough, but the satisfaction at the end is incredible.

Wasn't that what I said?



Basically, I totally agree that one should read Muv Luv Extra and Unlimited before Alternative.

I didn't notice that "first", sorry. :P

I have yet to play Muv Luv Alternative. The primary reason is because I was about 3/4 done Extra when I lost my saves. I just haven't had the patience to play through it again yet...

Alternative is worth the effort, and I think anyone in this thread will agree with me on that. My only regret in having played MLA is that it's going to be a very hard VN to follow. I don't know how you go from top quality to anything less than equal quality.

Ah, more disciples.

I absolutely love Alternative. Initially, I started with Extra, and to be honest, I didn't like it very much. But then, Unlimited happened.

I love Alternative Universes. I love mecha and I love pilot girls, and Muv Luv scratches them all. I like how reasonably the world is thought out, and the whole political underside of it and all the little call backs to what we did before. I was -still am- over how all the things we witness before end up being part of the greater whole (like that one random lecture ending up being essentially an explanation of big part of Quantum Magic we get to witness later on).

Then, the music, the scenes, voices and animation do superb job of keeping me in my seat. This is an amazing story, from both hard sci-fi perspective, but also as a story about human determination and growth.

As someone said, we can't come up with a good enough description for it.

Plus, you know that the horrible English lines are just golden in the context.

Was Muv-Luv Alternative just newly translated? Fuck, I shouldn't have uninstalled Muv-Luv Extra :(

Guess I'll have to re-download everything again.

Yeah, finding a good followup VN has been difficult. MLA had the highest Bayesian ranking on the VNDB, 9.33/10. Sorting by popularity, out of the eleven that place higher than it, I've either read all of them or have no interest in reading them. I started playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister a few days ago simply because I've heard good things about its gameplay, and if I can't beat the story of MLA, I'll at least shoot for better gameplay. It really is hard to followup on a masterpiece of military drama and political intrigue like MLA, though. This one's going to be at the top of my list for a long time, I feel.

I believe the latest 魔法使いの夜 by Type Moon will be on par (for me it's actually higher) with MLA. In terms of numbers its overall use of effects is lower than MLA, but the effectiveness is exactly on par or better than MLA. It is 2012 after all, although you can be proud knowing that - aside from the VNs from MLA's company - this is probably the only Visual Novel whose use of effects are as amazing as MLA.

In terms of story 魔法使いの夜 also wins hands down for me. Not to say that MLA's story is bad - I certainly read it throughout a lot of nights, and there are some scenes that are just maddeningly good - but the somewhat long-winded theory explanation (which Ever 17 did a much better job in comparison) and the protagonist's immaturity (if he was the trained man almost at the end of Unlimited, and not the leader 3 years after I have no qualms with it, but otherwise seriously) near the end of MLA irked me a lot. Also, for some reason, I really do not feel anything for its ending (though I admit that the BETA's mindset is really, really well written; I hate it when people make supposedly aliens and monsters think like normal people). If anything, I felt a crushing disappointment that despite the 'reward' Takeru received in the end - which is honestly the best thing he could hope for,



The created atmosphere in 魔法使いの夜 also far exceeds that of MLA. I find it hard NOT to be sucked into the story's pace as Alice pulls me around with a rope around my neck. >_> The male protagonist is also some of the most unique characters I've seen; just excellent, excellent writing.

I'll be honest: Both VNs have TERRIBLE systems. 魔法使いの夜 music mode is missing the ED's song and extremely lacking that some of the most basic functions were missing. And MLA's...

Good god, man. So many epic CGs and you DON'T HAVE A CG MODE?????? DON'T HAVE A MUSIC MODE (Though I find that the gunfires are far smoother on the ear than the BGMs)???? WHAT THE FUCK?>???

And well, there are many VNs out there whose story are on par or better than MLA's. Maybe not many of the same genre. 装甲悪鬼村正 is one - mecha, politics, girls, military, everything - but heck, its atmosphere is so bloodily heavy (literally in those words) that light readers will probably be scared shitless and quit by the first chapter. Plus it's not translated. The entire thing can be summed up in a single word: Sin.

Then there are those VN with gameplays. Honestly, I am still waiting since Baldr Sky for a VN that harmonizes between gameplay and story perfectly (The top 3 gameplay + decent story in my list: 1) Baldr Sky (The current baseline of perfection), 2) Eiyuu Senki (An incredibly perfected gameplay system and interface, this is a gem to behold whether from a gamer or a programmer's point of view), 3) Sengoku Rance (Play it)), but there are plenty of VNs with gameplays that are, er, more exciting than Kamidori. I don't really get the excitement since it is a HUGE annoyance for me when I sometimes have to traverse my characters from one side to another in a huge, HUGE map. Take for example, 創刻のアテリアル's card game system and difficulty provokes quite a lot of thinking, Venus Blood Frontier's SLG is very easy but has a decently average (but shitty ending sigh) story. I haven't played Demonion yet, but its gameplay seem to be fairly interesting - if you can ignore the fact that yes, you are again somewhere sometime a Demon King; yes there are again ignorant hero chicks falling prey to your omniscient intelligence; NO WHY THE HELL DOES THE H-SCENE CGS LOOK SO TAME AND INNOCENT IN COMPARISON TO FRONTIER'S DESPITE THE BETTER ART??? WHY??

And oh, 素晴らしき日々, the absolute best VN ever.

I don't mean to sound like a baka gaijin or anything fancy like that, but might I ask for a romanization of the Japanese? I'm interested in looking into the visual novels you've described... but I'm lacking a name to do so, lol

魔法使いの夜 => Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, from the makers of Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime. Tells the story about Tuskihime's Aozaki Aoko. (Type-Moon)

装甲悪鬼村正 => Soukou Akki Muramasa, from the makers of Demonbane and Steins;Gate. It's about samurais with mechas basically. lol (NitroPlus)

創刻のアテリアル => Soukoku no Arterial, from the makers of Kamidori Alchemy Meister and Ikusa Megami Zero. Basically it's about Angels Vs Demons. (Eushully)

素晴らしき日々 => Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~, by KeroQ, not so familiar VN company, but this title is just great, too complex to put it in a nutshell.. lol

It's actually easier to find information on the Visual Novels I described using the original Japanese lol... Just copy paste them in + vndb?

EDIT: And oh, I made a mistake there stating Rance Quest as my 3rd favorite, it should be Sengoku Rance.

Exactly what I needed, thanks.

I think I stormed thru this game in record time (might be even under those 40 hours said to be minimal time of gameplay, thank you my fast reading skills) not so long after playing Muv Luv Extra/Unlimited.
This VN is one of those rare cases that were in death center of some of my interests (computers, quantum physics, mecha and military) with a catchy story. Muv Luv was the first franchise where story was so strong I turned all nighter to get more of the story and believe me watching the climax at daybreak had much more impact than I thought.
I played some VNs before but the animated scenes in Muv Luv were so different from what I knew it really suprised me how much the engine can do.
All in all it was really kickass experience for me and sometimes funny how I came up with a plan that somehow ended up crushed after few other lines explaining while a pan like mine couldn't work.

For those who didn't know already, you can watch this, you'll be happy :



Mu-Luv Alternative : Total Eclipse ! It's coming on September.
It's not really the right section, but I guess it's ok to post here since it's about Muv-Luv.

Fuck yes, Total Eclipse. It's not going to have any/many familiar faces, but that doesn't matter. What matters is seeing humanity's struggle against the BETA continued. I love you so much, MuvLuv. So very much.

I just want to make sure something: Total Eclipse is the events: