Magical Diary: Wolf Hall

A Fanfic Of A Fanfic. The first one had a basic charm that kept the player engaged, but it delved a little too deeply into tropes and cliche and offered nothing really new. This second game in the series might have worked if it was part of the first game, the option to play a male character. But it's not. This is just a male reskin, not a sequel, and with none of the lessons learned from the first game. This one just repeats the first game, but with worse writing. The climax is non existent. It's an unrewarding grind and a waste of time for most people. Any lingering charm is killed off by the bad fanfic level writing.

Recommended for fans of VNs and light RPGs. Good story and characters but light on depth and some paths can be difficult/unintuitive to get. Sort of an anime style Harry Potter. Also recommend Sunrider, Planet Stronghold, Tales of Aravorn, Loren, Life is Strange, the Atelier series, and the Persona series. +Visuals, art style +Music +Some appearance/name customization +Variety of magic schools/stats +Wizard school theme +Save anytime +Story, characters, writing +Variety of spells and effects +Choice of classes to take/stats to level +Dungeons to solve with spells +Quick spell bar +Variety of ways to solve puzzles +Personality traits develop by choices/dialogue +Several routes for replay +Purchase items for spell focus -No voice -Barebones options/settings -Male character only -Can't choose magic house assigned -Forced traits can be confusing/unintentional -Need for a lot more spell quick slots -Many missed opportunities for hangouts/relationships -Some obtuse puzzles -Choices can result in unsolvable puzzle/exam -Possible to fail stat raising/ waste a day -Some heavy-handed political messaging -Very few items/equipment -Money is very restricted -Fai…

I thought Magical Diary: Horse Hall was a really cute, quirky dating sim with a fun writing style and a surprising amount of depth for a semi-niche indie game that came out in 2011. Wolf Hall so far has expanded on every aspect that it should for a sequel. Though you could safely skip Horse Hall and play this one without prior knowledge, and I think the writing does a great job of world-building in organically weaving in additional layers of complexity and nuance to magic society as you go, I think you greatly benefit from playing the first game as a solid basis for appreciating the changes made here. It doesn't necessarily *assume* that you've completed Horse Hall, but a lot of the fun at least imo comes from getting a different perspective on the characters and events. There were quite a few loose ends in the og that you can tell the writers wanted to expand on, and the shift in perspective from a fish-out-of-water Wildseed to someone who is far more entrenched in the magical world from the getgo does a huge service in making things not feel too repetitive despite me playing these two games back-to-back. While the overall progression of the year stays mostly the same, the MC's vo…

Super fun addition to the series, and I loved all the new storylines that were added compared to the previous game!! I've been a longtime fan of the first game, and I love how many more options there are in this one (way more romanceable characters, you can join different clubs, etc.) The dungeons are a bit harder, which is a blessing and a curse in my mind, because it gives an additional challenge that's fun at first, but later it just means you have to spend more time getting through them. Overall, I'm very glad I was able to play this one, both for nostalgia and a fun, cute visual novel.

Apparently you can date people in this game, I wouldn't know, I was too busy Wizardmaxxing. The Dungeons are a ton of fun and I wish there were more

While I like the first in the series more as a personal preference - this game is still really great. Dungeons aren't as fun as the first but still really good and worth playing.