Tons of events can trigger automatically when all you really want to do is craft and get back to the action – and I use “action” loosely here because as mentioned earlier, the game is still very much about storytelling and character development. This is especially true if you avoid doing some of the things back at the school and then return there after some time has passed. Normally this is a good thing, but when certain gameplay imperfections are brought up later, it can often feel like the gameplay reins are rarely given to the player. That’s not to say that every single character is interesting beyond a surface level, but there is some intriguing depth here either way.Īkin to Gust’s flagship franchise, Atelier, Blue Reflection: Second Light heavily emphasizes character development through tons of bite-sized sub events. It’s a very raw, emotional point of view that simply cannot be replicated by more traditional memory reveals in other games. Having a front seat view to these important memories and seeing how they slowly shape each character is a genuinely interesting process. While Ao will help uncover the memories of close to a dozen girls, the team gets to experience those memories firsthand (and together) through the Heartscapes. On the surface, one could easily dismiss it all as “trope overload” – amnesiac characters are extremely common in RPGs after all, and ALMOST EVERYONE has lost their memory here – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Narratively speaking, Blue Reflection: Second Light is one of the most interesting and unique RPGs I’ve played in some time. This ultimately results in the creation of Heartscapes, explorable worlds manifested through the emotions of each girl that are key to getting their memories back.īut do they really want their memories back? Were their pasts filled with things better left in the void? How will their future change when they are “made whole” again? This reflection may differ greatly from each girl, but one thing they certainly can agree upon is this: emotions are powerful, and all memories are worth holding onto as they help us learn from our past, help lead our present, and can ultimately shape our future. Feeling a true sense of purpose – perhaps for the first time in her life – Ao tries everything she can to jog the memories of her new friends. ![]() ![]() Next thing she knows, she’s waking up to some new friends at an abandoned school in the ocean, where she has apparently been living for a few days.Īlthough the girls are in the same age range, Ao is the outlier because she’s the only one that still has her memories – her three new companions remember nothing prior to their arrival at the mysterious world. While walking to summer class one day, she drops her phone and upon picking it up, everything goes white. She longs to exchange her dull, “meaningless” life for something with substance. ![]() ![]() Ao Hoshizaki serves as the centerpiece of Blue Reflection: Second Light – an ordinary college student who, unbeknownst to her, is about to embark on an extraordinary adventure.
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