Possibly the greatest pleasure of the entire Volume 3 was just being able to spend so much time goofing off with all these wonderful girls. Beach scenes are such a well-worn trope and are practically obligatory in any anime or Visual Novel, but when they are done with so much humor and fun you can see why they are so popular. Even without the X-Rated scenes, you will see the girls in plenty of states of undress, so it’s not like the swimsuits are the only time that you get to see skin. But they don’t need to rely on the pure titillation, they just have a lot of fun together and it’s fun experiencing it with them. Yes, there are some serious moments in this Visual Novel, the first 15% of the story is relatively serious, as is the last 10%. But that leaves a lot of fun and goofing around in the middle. As a result, when R-ne does get her wish, that makes the goodbyes far more difficult as well. To me, that is a much more effective way to develop character attachment then just throwing tragedy at you with someone you spent hardly any time with (yes, I’m calling out you, Final Fantasy XV).
Here is where I need to start talking about the release method for Corona Blossom. Because they were releasing it in parts, it was almost impossible to make branching routes. That would have been a logistical nightmare if they didn’t make a single story. It can work to its advantage by having each part fully funded, and by getting feedback from your community on what they want to see. And, of course, only having one route can make it easier to write a concise and well-developed story. But there is also a disadvantage in that it removes some of the replay value and if you wanted to see Keiji end up with any other girl, you will just have to fantasize about it yourself. Granted, I’m a massive reader of traditional books, so I don’t see this as a bad thing. But it also doesn’t make use of one of the powers of the Visual Novel medium. That said, the romantic direction this story took was extremely well done and I’m very happy that they didn’t just leave it open for interpretation. They did genuinely give us a satisfying ending, which was something I was really concerned about all the way until near the very end of Volume 3.
There were a couple new songs added to the roster, but most of them were the same from the previous 2 volumes. But that isn’t a bad thing, this entire Visual Novel had a very strong soundtrack compared to most of its peers. They didn’t have the chance to record a bunch of different lyric songs, but the instrumental ones are very fitting for the tone of the story. So, as with the previous 2 releases, the strongest part of the design is in the voice acting and the art design. And in Volume 3 they even exceeded themselves in that department. You could tell that the voice actresses were really getting into the roles much more as time went along, so they saved their best work for the last. Also when it came time to stick the exclamation point on the romantic relationship and the ending to the game itself, the art design definitely did not drop the ball, they produced their most beautiful artwork of the entire 3 volumes.
They definitively ended the game and gave it a proper send-off. But not every thread was tightly wrapped off, and if I had a guess, I would guess that there are some fairly solid plans for a sequel. For me, personally, I would definitely support the idea of a sequel. And I did not particularly find it predatory that they left so much room for one, they still gave us a really satisfying ending. Even without those spare threads, I would want a sequel just to spend some more time with all these people that I’ve become so fond of. Or at a minimum, I would want different route versions made. And that is one of the few real complaints I have remaining with this Visual Novel. Not only does the lack of choices impact the replay-ability, but it also feels a little small when compared to other members of the same medium. There was so much room to explore other romantic relationships, and also to learn far more about each of the girls. Yes, that is part of the harem trope to make each of the girls equally viable, but when it’s not explored that makes it feel a little frustrating. Thankfully with the 18+ patch, there is some minor exploration of what each of those alternative stories could be. So, while I think it would have worked out better to weave the adult scenes into the story itself, there is some major advantage to having them separate and available from the Title Screen.
There was a small bug with an intermission screen not being translated, but that has already been fixed by the developers. So really there was nothing bad I can say about the quality control. My only two issues with the game was that it was a little small without the extra routes and the very expensive adult patches, Volume 3 was once again $10.39 from J-List/JAST, which is more than the price of the normal game. And once again it’s well done and gives some alternative story, so as long as you just accept that you are really paying $20 for the game, instead of the $9.99 Steam price, then you will be okay. I would like to see that pricing model fixed in the future, but how about the release and funding model? I could write an entire Op-Ed about it, but for review purposes, I’ll just say that it worked out well for this title, but unless it’s a translation of an already established franchise or a very famous developer (such as Frontwing), I’m doubtful this model is the future of the industry. But they have my respect and admiration for this bold endeavor. I cannot call it anything but a success, they made a really great 12-15 hour Visual Novel when you combine the 3 volumes together. And even better, Frontwing has created a group of characters that will stay with their fans for a long time. If they want to give us more of this world, the have my enthusiastic support. Catgirl maid space pirates have to get paid, even while they are looking for their big sister.
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Review Copy Provided By The Developer
