9-nine-:Episode 3

This entry is not quite as solid as the game before it. Unfortunately the game suffers a bit from wanting to be both Haruka's character game and setting everything up for the finale. This leads to the pacing being much faster in the story sections and much slower in the character sections, making it feel quite uneven. The two parts also don't feel that connected to each other. That just makes it a relatively weaker entry compared to the previous very strong one however, it's still a good game in its own right and an essential part of the series. The story starts getting really interesting with the direction it takes, while for the previous two it still felt like they were their own stand-alone stories more, this is where the full extent of the overarching plot gets revealed. All the progress in the story is really exciting. Haruka is also an interesting character, although she suffers a bit from getting overshadowed by the story developments.

The third episode of the 9-nine- series is easily my favorite. The first two episodes felt a bit slow, but it all changes here. In terms of the story and mystery, this episode is where things finally start to pick up. This episode also has my favorite fight scene of this entire series (yes, I enjoyed it more than the final boss fight in the next episode). My only real gripe is that the pacing felt a bit off. [spoiler]This episode introduces two villains, back to back, in quick succession. It felt like too much too quickly.[/spoiler] Overall, this is probably the most "balanced" episode. While the second episode focused on romance, and the fourth episode obviously has the final boss fight, this episode is a decent mix of both. It's also the most well-written one IMO, being the episode where I was the most engaged and followed along easily.

A story about learning to love and accept yourself. Episode 3 is my favourite so far it had just the right amount of story and lore drops while also maintaining the perfect balance of slice of life and romance. Haruka was a very interesting character throughout episodes 1 and 2 and i was very delighted to be able to learn more about her characters story and personality expanded as a member of the group, im hoping the quality shown here carries over towards episode 4 and they give the same writing quality to Noa as much as Haruka had.

Warning, some spoilers exist for episodes 1-2 in this comment. I ASSUME that if you are here, you are beyond episodes 1 and 2. Episode 3, in my opinion, is the perfect ending. A good love, unlike episode 2 where the love interest was the cause of the bad ending, this one has a great connection with the love interest. The mutual benefits to both parties brought them both up, through some decent fight scenes, and character building they hit a GREAT ending on this episode. I haven't quite hit episode 4, but there is no way they could top the ending with the secondary character here. 9-nine continues to impress and build a great lore around a pseudo groundhog day. I love this series. patch for 18+ content is entirely optional, if you do not get it, then its heavily suggested when that content was inserted, but you miss nothing other than a couple scenes. Unlike other games where you miss 50%+ of the game without the patch, this one is closer to <1% of the game.

Probably my favorite of the whole series in terms of actual writing and plot development. This one honestly could have been the ending and I would have felt most things were resolved. However, I am glad Episode 4 exists, as there are a few lingering questions at the end of this one. Even though it turned out pretty well I do think some romantic potential here was squandered.

Out of the first 3 episodes, this is definitely the best one. The lore drop is insane. Who would've thought the relationship between Kakeru and Haruka would be this fast considering what we've seen previously. Also, I have no idea what the ending was meant to say yet.. perhaps, it's a hint for the next episode.