Re:Kuroi

[h1]Magic Must Defeat Magic[/h1] [h2]Story[/h2] From the Steam description, you're probably thinking this is some sort of Harry Potter-like power fantasy, due to the protagonist Kaito joining a community of mages. As you play, it turns out magic has a dark twist and ultimately causes more harm than good, and every party member has been negatively affected by magic in some way, whether it's through unwanted side-effects or political power struggles. However, the source of magic, the Black Pearl, isn't explained all that well. The ending implies that there are efforts to get rid of it, but I can't help but wonder if the untranslated and removed prequel, HIBIKAKEYIRONOKISEKI, is necessary to fully understand the lore. Unfortunately, the pacing of the story is very slow compared to the amount of important things that actually happen. Some acts don't seem to advance the plot very much and just feel like filler monster extermination, which I felt made the game a bit longer than it should ...

Mostly I agree with the other reviews, but I'd honestly say the combat isn't bad. It isn't super deep and there's very limited build variety but there's just little enough of it and it's just tightly tuned enough that bar the final boss it rarely takes long and is generally fun enough.

An interesting story to say the least. Recommended. I would say this is more of a visual novel than full rpg. The translation is solid compared to most other works. The battle system leaves much to be desired, but the story makes up for most of it. There is also an option to skip that if you just want to enjoy the story. Treat this as more of a visual novel than a RPG and you may like it. I found some battles painful to get through, mostly in the later stages. Overall a fine story just offset by some skippable but offputting battles.