East Tower - Kuon (East Tower Series Vol. 3) (2015)

[b]“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”— Bertrand Russell[/b] It came to the third part of [i]East Tower[/i] series already? Wow, with each new one, the mystery has been kept well-fed, I must say. At this point, we all know the drill, we all know what we will encounter... or do we? This third chapter deviates from the routine a bit, by introducing the unique condition of Kuon's story. He is a bit different from the other participants. For once, he is the youngest, and he may not be declared as the boldest, for good enough reason. He is the cautious one, with some heavy trust issues. Want to find out more? Well, keep reading. Sakuya, our protagonist with a gender complex, arising from a past trauma, participates the demonstration for the newest VR game by posing as a boy – that part doesn’t change since it always serves to be our prologue for the series. She joins the game alongside four other young men and gets partnered up with Kuon this time, a bit unwillingly. He is a cool looking young man with a stone-cold attitude. As he somewhat halfheartedly treads around, we soon realize that he see…

I really love this series and definitely recommend it. It's much more than your basic dating/romance VN. This is the 3rd instalment and one of my favourites, because htis character is just adorable (and scary) XD There's quite a bit if replay value to this due to the different endings and achievement hunting. I personally head canon the main character as a non-binary person, although the dev's indicate this wasn't the intention. But by cautiously playing with gender identity and it's place in romance really is a nice thing to see done well (and without crapping on us trans folk). You do best to play the entire series really to get the most out of it, as the last one in the series really just goes over and above expectations.

East Tower Vol.3 is a sparkling diamond

[Light spoiler warning for about the first 10 or so minutes of the VN!] I have complicated feelings! This game went into a route I was NOT expecting from my memories of the previous two games, but I'm a sucker for that exact kind of plot point so it got my attention. However I feel like it moved way too fast to get into the time loop plot twist? I would have liked if it went through an entire route without Kuon blitzing through it like he did. I understand from the perspective of Kuon on WHY he does that since he's in a timeloop and just wants to get through the stages fast, but it makes the impact of the plot twist just... not hit as hard imo? I understand that it immediately wants to establish Kuons route as a mystery on why the loop is happening, but as an afficionado for timeloop stories I was a bit disappointed that that plot beat got dropped on me without too much fanfare? THAT SAID when it gets a bit more time to stew in Kuon communicating his frustrations with the timeloop, I can really see the sauce. (Such as when Sakuya doesn't remember a previous loop and he says something she said to him and him getting sad because she isn't the same person as the Sakuya of that loop…

I was not really feeling Kuon in this one to be honest. The story was still enjoyable, I had fun playing it. You finally make minor progress in the terms of understanding the whole story of East Tower. It served its purpose and had a lot of cute moments. The art also improved a lot from the first two installments. Still tho I gotta say, in the romance route I enjoyed Kuon the least compared to the previous love interests. Akio for the win !

Strongest of the first three entries in terms of plot, weakest in writing, and middle ground in execution. It's frustrating how lacking this series is, largely because it had potential to be so much better. It is what it is, I guess.