While the romantic/slight teasing ones feel lovely and satisfying, you also have the option of being an over-the-top pervert or an annoying grump. Just like with Crystalline, my possibly biggest gripe is connected to choices offered to the reader. Obviously, it doesn’t mean the experience is flawless. Whether connected to the whole project being cut short or not, it left me feeling just slightly unsatisfied with the whole scenario at the end of the original game. However, maybe more than any other route, it lacked genuinely romantic moments, in which Kaori would truly open up to the protagonist or show him affection, even though it was clear enough that she loved him. Especially if you chose the athletic archetype when starting the game, it was easy to create a genuine chemistry between her and the protagonist, both highly skilled and ambitious pilots, pulling each other up on their way to the very top. While her modern-tsundere attitude might be off-putting to some (she can be standoffish and often rude towards the protagonist even after they become a couple), there were many highly amusing interactions connected to her and fairly unique, memorable scenes that still stick to my mind, more than a year after reading AA.

Kaori, the leader of the protagonist’s team of mecha pilots (the story is based around a futuristic sport, involving team battles between specialized mecha called GEARs), was the heroine with probably the most intricate and fun romance arc in Ace Academy. The cuts and omissions were definitely visible, for me however, what was already there was simply too good to disregard and I still consider AA as one of the best EVNs I’ve ever read. The genuine chemistry between Ace Academy’s characters and its compelling atmosphere let me even forgive its anticlimactic ending – PixelFade struggled heavily with that game's development, being forced to cut a large portion of the plot and rush the conclusion, infuriating many fans. While AA, a mecha-themed game set in near future’s Japan, mixed convincing drama, a cast of archetypical, but compelling heroines and great SoL sections, providing a fairly balanced and enjoyable game, Crystalline focused much more on comedy and despite the fantasy adventure framework, failed to produce an engaging plot or characters interesting enough to make the whole experience satisfying. A short while ago I’ve reviewed PixelFade’s Crystalline, expressing my disappointment at what was a visually brilliant, but rather hollow experience, in many ways inferior to that studio's first project, Ace Academy.

Ace academy game kaori