Thoughts after finishing Chaos;Head Noah
^Favorite image/moment.
So, this is the first SciAdv game I’ve finished (*the second overall media I guess after Steins;Gate anime). It got dangerously close to 2Edgy4u territory at times, and a lot of things here I’ve already seen elsewhere and done better in some cases, so probably less impactful than if I read this like a decade ago, but overall I liked it. Strongly reminiscent of some early to mid-2000 anime and Chiaki Konaka’s writing in particular, in that it kinda overwhelms you with complex mysteries and pseudo-scientific babbling to obfuscate a (relatively) simple familiar story about having to grow a spine and touch grass. Common VN issues for me (overly verbose, repetition of plot points, awkward description of action/fighting scenes, slogging for the true ending) aside, the ambience was top-notch and the delusion mechanic was a cool distinguishing feature that took great advantage of the medium.
Takumi’s PoV and narration was as painfully cringe as advertised, but you'd just grow to tolerate it the more you understand the intention of his characterization. He can be genuinely funny and sympathetic at times, overall a pretty good believable depiction of self-loathing edgelord. The story does revolve around him a bit too much for my taste, and once the big twist drops, it’s too predictably easy to guess where his character and the entire story would end up. Would prefer if they don’t sideline all the other characters in the main route climax, too.
Speaking of other characters and routes: Rimi and Nanami are bit too archetype-y for my taste (the ride-or-die heroine and the Anime Imouto respectively), think it’d benefit both if they have aspects to their story independent of Takumi. Their routes were well-executed though, Nanami’s in particular as painfully icky as it is to read through. Sena’s route was confusing but very interesting, although mostly for reasons outside the character herself. Ayase’s was ok, certainly felt like the most unique route though I also feel it could’ve been more. I like Yua’s a lot, she has a well-realized character arc and I appreciated how it links to the NG victims/incident (which otherwise felt like an afterthought).
Kozue’s surprised me the most with how emotional it was, since I initially thought she's going to be my least favorite character (mostly due to her thoughtspeak mannerism). Out of all the characters, her ‘brokenness’ and the kindred spirit-esque bond she has with Takumi just rang the truest. Honestly, reading the true ending with Rimi right after Kozue's made it felt like an emotionally diminished version instead (but I guess we’ve all had that experience of connecting more w/ the secondary heroine over that obvious true one lol).
Ban, Misumi, and Momose were all decent supporting characters, also good red herrings in terms of me guessing if they're a culprit. The actual antagonistic force was largely meh though, couldn’t care much about the faceless bad guys and the many organizations they represent, while Norose’s a rather generic big bad. Suwa and Hazuki were more interesting, though they could’ve been explored more beyond their characterization as insane brainwashed cultists, perhaps delving more into their betrayal of Ban and Takumi respectively (btw Hazuki’s reveal was one of the few twists here that genuinely caught me by surprise; no idea why, but at some point I thought Grimm was Daru from S;G lol).
I ’d be interested to know what’s the consensus about the game in this space, and how it ranks among the SciAdv titles! Not in a particular hurry to play the other games, although Robotics; Notes is in my library already and I might as well grab Chaos;Child while it’s in discount atm.