![]() I’ve had a lot of fun with it over the past little while, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the idea of simulating student life in a modern fantasy setting, whether you’ve played the first one or not. I rushed to back the kickstarter just over a year ago, and started playing as soon as it was released. It’s a follow-up to 2012’s Magical Diary: Horse Hall, which played a big role in my becoming the voracious visual novel reader that I am today, as well as making me a lifelong fan of developers Hanako Games. Charmingly indie, Magical Diary is definitely worth the purchase.Magical Diary: Wolf Hall-a game that combines elements of stat-raising and puzzles with a visual novel format and a plot about solving mysteries and getting dates at a magical boarding school-was my personal most highly anticipated release of 2020. It’s a nice touch as is the fact you can date people of any gender or species. Later, as you acquire money, the game allows you to purchase equipment, equipment that shows up on the protagonist herself. In the beginning, you’re even allowed to pick out the character’s looks. One of the biggest selling points for Magical Diary is, perhaps, the fact that the game permits customization, something almost unheard of in the visual novel genre. I would have prefered if the look stayed completely 2D personally. The backgrounds are also somewhat uninspired. For the most part, the tinctures used lack significant shading. However, colours-wise, Magical Diary fails to impress as much. ![]() The teachers, on the other hand, seem like parodies of the lecturers from Hogswarts. ![]() Cat ears and demonic wings also take a prominent role in the presentation of the people. Long, flowy hair and large eyes appear to be a staple here. Some are drawn out like Freshman Initiation while others appear to be tied to specific characters.Ī dating sim at heart, Magical Diary’s anime-inspired visuals lend well to the atmosphere. Special events do crop up as well, from time to time. Players will also learn spells on what appears to be a random basis, spells that are later used in tests that are held periodically through the school terms. At times, the events can be uneventful: a class might do nothing more than reward the player with additional points (or even failures). Once they’ve done so, they’ll then enact the decisions made. In the beginning of each week, players can choose the classes and activities for the day before finalizing that decision. After the initial introduction, the game breaks into a segment of a weeks. It is surprisingly easy to fall into the rhythm of the game. Yet, at the same time, Magical Diary still somehow manages to encapsulate the feeling that it is a parody though the humor is more tongue-in-cheek than pointed. While the characters are walking stereotypes often enough, the interaction between them feels real and believable. If anything, it feels as though the author of the script had an extensive amount of fun working within the scope they had been given. It makes no pretensions and no attempts to provoke metaphysical thinking. Though a Pulitzer Prize is unlikely to be forthcoming, Magical Diary’s narrative is tight. ![]() The writing, I think, plays the largest role in this. As silly as the premise sounds, everything plays out surprisingly well. I cared enough to want to carefully evaluate my weekly class schedule as to be able to meet certain characters. I wanted to see how certain things played out. Within the first twenty minutes, I found myself growing invested in the story. Yet, at the same time, Magical Diary, for some incomprehensible reason, works. It has everything you could possibly imagine, every form of stereotype imaginable and every plot element common to the Mary Sue-infested genre. For those of you wondering if this eventually comes to involve suspiciously familiar schools, cat boys, vampires, demons and a variety of high school hijinks, I can tell you this: It does. A trite formula spun onto its head, Magical Diary will have players stepping into the shoes of a young girl who has only recently realized her own aptitude for magic. I honestly did not expect to have this much fun with Magical Diary. Magical Diary is an enjoyable visual novel with character customization
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