An Octave Higher

I came across this visual novel by chance in a recent sale, at a humongous discount. Needless to write I didn't think much of An Octave Higher at first glance, other than the premise looked intriguing. And boy, though it is not the pinnacle of this kind of game by comparison to other giants in the genre, it really is a hidden gem! Without giving too much away about its story, An Octave Higher is about a group of characters who exist in a world of magic - which has also undergone significant industrial transformation. This has had various effects on people's lives, with how they respond to the problems they experience in this world being a major theme of the story. It is grounded in factual similarities to our world, that I think enhance it's appeal, to be a story which the reader can more easily relate to. It's no high fantasy tale, which is good if you don't like that kind of thing. The music being classical, another thread to the story, is also a nice change from more synthetic soundtracks. The art of the game, while not brilliantly dazzling, has a charm of its own which grew on me too. Having written all that, I can't guarantee that you'll like every aspect of it. I particularly disliked one ending for being very 'tropey'. In fact, all the ends (even the true ending) made me wonder why the creators didn't expand more on the consequences of the choices made. Additionally, some of the writing is a bit crass, or the way language is used similar to modern ways of speaking (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) sort of takes away from complete immersion. However, I think that is part of the charm for this game which presents a believable enough setting for its story to successfully work in. Definitely recommended for visual novel lovers.

I finished all the endings include [spoiler]Secret Ending...[/spoiler] . Story telling is really good. Artworks are awasome. Character designs are good too but one thing is so bad, this game has no proper ending and its so sad. I really liked this vn but but ENDINGS hurted me so much :(.

Wonderful Indonesia. Make more creative products like this and become very rich. We want culture products from arround the wolrd.

8/10

A 'true' visual story where you have to make multiple decisions - which will decide the route and the end of the story. Set in a early industrial age (very like 19th century Europe) but with magic as the thriving force. The story itself is a bit of a mix of a youth light novel and some more serious thoughts about society. Visual design is well made and the music-themes are really great. Try to explore the possibilities yourself - it will shurly take more time to figure out how to change the story by yourself, but it is definitly more fun then looking up in some guide. Don't worry you can play casual and you have unlimited save-points (Mention this, because recently i have seen otherwise on a different visual novel). When you look out for it, you will even get some basic introduction in psychology and the basics on digital electronics. After all that positive said now some critic points: Some story-endings are much, much shorter then others. This feels a bit unbalanced from a game playing experience. Especially when you really can imagine a continuation on this storylines. I would really like to see a sequel to continue with this storylines. Despite the general good quality of the visuals, in one of the storyline you will explore some art which doesn't match the style, especially for some characters. Also i personally think that in this storyline some of the in-story-logic feelt a bit off. I can comprehend the underlying principles and ideas but they aren't so well presented and wrapped in a captivating, consistent story as in the others. So this feels a bit forced. I can't help but speculate: Is this do to the pressure of running out of time and budget or a creator leaving the team or was this forced by one of the sponsors (a ministry in indonesia - when you look up their history of student backed protest, you may understand my thoughts) Anyway: worth buying and the time playing.(Got it with ~80% discount)

生气了，我不说，你来猜。 202512，steam，steam掉卡掉物抵扣，它处自定义包入的本体加全dlc约9元。 爱人如己，目前就这，看以后追评。

Pretty good Visual Novel. Some routes are longer than others, which I find a pleasant touch. Interesting and deep, also liked the art style.

打出why not结局以后相当令人惆怅 不知道是就对阶级革命进入深入探讨的方面想夸奖作者，还是想就特么和前面的一切对比都变味儿的部分痛骂他一顿，有出人意料的把剧情内核上升到新高度又能丰满其深度和广度的部分也有令人觉得割裂和肉眼可见充满缺憾与不足的部分，当然更多的是意难平，why not？why！ 以下是剧透发牢骚 [spoiler] frederic毅然为了elise赴死迎战虽然挺震撼的但是仔细想还是觉得理由有点牵强，特么franz最后被elise嘴炮了以后就这样爆了？？？amadeus？erenJaeger！当然elise后面也变得奇奇怪怪起来了，理想主义玛丽苏的转向真的不适合前面的她。 老实说所有的人物除了阿三我觉得多少都带点崩，可惜三哥高手在why not结局中也对上俩小姑娘被逼入绝境也晚节不保了。我觉得纯粹是作者已经无法控制对人物的掌握了，把前面投入的血汗全部用来垫自己的真结局剧情路线，一切服务于最后的核心叙事，老实说立意很不错但是这种操作给人一种完成度拉胯的味道，乱糟糟的。恨，是理解作者想干什么，尤其是理解他香干一票大的，但是显而易见的搞砸了不少，一锅饭煮糊了还好差强人意能吃[/spoiler]

After reading all the endings I have a mixed feelings... How glorious "So beautiful and lost" is, and how lame "Why not?" is, which is supposed to be the "true" ending. Don't get blinded by capitalists' propaganda, kids. Revolution is the answer.