Tale of Two Cranes

[h1]This game skips too much![/h1] Practically every chapter ends just when things are getting interesting, and the start of the next chapter is always a time-skip with a couple pages of explanation as to what happened in the intervening year(s). You don't get to experience things with your character for the first time - you're always thrown in the middle/near the end of events. First day of Yǒngshì school? Nope, you go from discovering you're a Yǒngshì at the end of chapter 1 to being a student about to graduate at the start of chapter 2. Final exam? No matter what you do your rival has you dead to rights and... the next chapter starts, 3 years later, with your character ruminating about how you somehow got out of that very unwinnable situation and barely beat out your rival in a no doubt impressive turn of events that everyone thought was super cool. Something exciting happening? Better skip ahead a few years, nothing's more exciting than the ending or being told about it aft...

This game can be broken down into 2 halves. I did not enjoy the first half much and would give it 5 out of 10. Choices are abundant, but barely affect anything plot-wise. I also found romances lacking. The game just throws 6 potential romantic interests in a row at you one after the other and prompts the player to express their interest (or lack there of) on the spot after a couple interactions and... thats it, you won't meet them again until the second half. The game redeems itself with the second half where player choices start to truly matter and the story picks up. I would give it 7 out of 10. And hence the "thumbs up". While I've enjoyed the game overall, the first half could've been better. Updated: Nominated for Story-Rich Game Award. To be honest, it doesn't deserve it, but I had to pick something and there is not a lot to pick from this year.

It started off interesting and I wanted to see where it went, so I tried just going with it and letting it do its thing. However that turned into giving it passes which turned into disinterest, then calling it quits. It's a good concept but it's heavily expositional and too fast-paced. I know it's hard to fit a huge timespan into a single game but it goes by in such big chunks while basically just telling you what's happening in detail, often in dialogue, that it feels like the game is passing you by. This lead to very simplified choices as well where you get one chance to choose a path- like which general to support or who to romance- and then that's just set in motion and you watch it play out almost without you. Aside from these major story-altering choices that come up your choices seem superficial. And it's not just the setup phase either. I quit at the discovery of the second crane almost three hours in. It fell victim to [i]all[/i] the above flaws. I expected a challenger and ...

This is a really well-writen IF (Interactive Fiction) that definitely deserves some more love! The story's pretty captivating from the very beginning and, while there were some... weaker moments (looking at you chap. 4), it really picks up around chapter 5. Some pretty significant parts of the game (including a whole chapter) are pretty much open for you to choose and do whatever might compel you, be it boosting your own standing in court, assisting the military, or even the emperor himself. Your choices are also [i]really[/i] important - supporting certain characters in chapter 3 and 5 will (indirectly) bring far-reaching consequences up to the preparations for the final battle. Hell, even your origin story (like whether your character was born in nobility or not) is relevant in most chapters. Take that, Cyberpunk. Fights were engaging and not too challenging, though I wish a few stat checks were less demanding. I'm sorry, I'll never agree with using personality stats as a skill. M...

First, the positives: The writing is good, the epilogue is lengthy, and it's an interesting setting. The bad: Many choices are presented that lead to bad outcomes not because of a skill check failure but because the choice itself was misleading. E.g. when choosing how to prosecute a war, if you select the option that is basically to exercise caution and surgical strikes, the *actual* choice and way it is perceived is cowardice. The story is much more on rails than most CoG stories. It leans far more into "game" than "story." The ROs are bland and you have too few interactions with them. I lost count of how many situations are lose-lose no matter what you do. Going back and altering save files to maximize skills, alter personality traits, and increase relationship scores - in many situations, none of this will alter key outcomes. This is forgivable with situations like when a particular lord is killed while you are away, but I can't fucking stand it when it's something like failing...

As one who loves stories such as these, this one went from interesting enough at the start and ended with something that couldn't be called lackluster at best The main issue wasn't a dozen paper thin characters or a dozen stats that did next to nothing, choices where if you didn't pick the "correct" stats to spec into you would be doomed to fail (IE: 3 choices and all of them using your lowest stats out of a possible **4** stats) or even that those stats degrade or raise for no apparent reason but rather the uncountable number of times wrong events would trigger; be they the low/neutral/high relationship value dialogue showing up right after the others, making a choice and it acting like i didn't or in a particularly noticeable time acting like i picked one when i didn't or just flat out not flagging. As stated in another review it's a constant "build up, time skip, resolution while talking about what happened in the time skip", but i'd rather focus on another part, that being the cha...

Despite the wonderful and indept writing i am not happy with this game. Why? Because every Chapter you are send out to accomplish something, get no choice in it, have to cater to the court even when your character woudlnt want to, making a loyal charater the only thing that can be played resonably and then! The game throws a massiv curveball, everything changes, your efforts are negated regardles of stats and then comes a three year timeskip. This is great in a story when it happens ones or twice but here it happens ever single chapter. Your just left exausted and often confused at the change of fortune. It kind of takes the joy away.

Meh ! Did almost finish it. But all are generic and predictable. Everything ! In the end the story leave everything behind and continue by itself not caring about who read it. To respect the extensive work on it i had to stop it on the last fight then reload the chap, confirm what other choice was before the stop reading again. Yeah, the generic story and dialogue ruin it. The good part was the development of the character minus the time skip. If you buy it, don't hope munch.

those 12 hours were all one session

Good