Norn9: Var Commons (PS Vita) Review

With Hakuouki doing well on a number of different platforms, and a visual novel being a top seller on the Vita with Steins;Gate, it may now be the perfect time for more otome games to be released. Aksys is willing to take that chance and is bringing over Norn9, another of the biggest otome games in Japan. Whilst the developer Idea Factory is best known in the West for their massive dungeon crawler JRPGs like the Agarest and Hyperdimension series, their subdivision Otomate has been producing some of the very best in Japanese VN, with titles like Amnesia, Diabolik Lovers, and the like.

The story initially seems to be set in modern day, following Sorata Suzuhara, whom while on a field trip with his class, wanders off upon hearing a strange song, blacks out and wakes up in what seems to be Meiji era Japan. This is not a simple time-travelling tale, though, as Sorata soon finds out the world he has arrived in is not what it seems. He runs into an amnesiac girl who is no help in figuring out what's going on, before they are both suddenly whisked away onto a giant floating ship called the Norn, filled with futuristic technology and a crew imbued with strange powers that are tasked with the protection of the world.

It seems strange for a game of this type to have a male protagonist, and, soon enough, Sorata is abandoned as the point of view character, and instead, there is a selection of three females to play as. Each of these ladies have three different men to pursue, and both the ladies and gents have unique special powers, ranging from the ability to wipe people's memories and pyrokinetics, to infiltrating dreams, amongst others. These powers show their worth and reason and aboard the ship and in the protection of the world, though it takes a number of playthroughs to fully understand and establish why.

The story gets weirder when it turns out the ship is journeying to America and the crew of super-powered bishie boys are tasked with not just keeping the world safer, since there are darker undercurrents beneath. The story is confusing and complex at the beginning, and the only way to grasp the whole picture is to play through every possible pathway of the storyline. As with all visual novels, there are multiple roads to follow and endings to experience, (over 20 in total), and for those who are dedicated enough to acquire all the happy ones there is a final epilogue to wrap up the plot.

Even for those who have completely finished all of these branching pathways, the narrative is not a simple one. Its overarching themes are reminiscent of the Evangelion anime series, and can leave the audience scratching their heads over some aspects of the world and its history. The important thing however is that the story is enthralling. The world and its inhabitants have a unique tale to tell which manages to captivate gamers and bring them back to play through again and again to learn a little more about this universe.

Among each of the characters that are available for flirting, there is a widely diverse range of personalities to cover all possible tastes. Each one is very individual and superbly written, making for some compelling moments. There are, of course, some of the classic anime tropes and archetypes - it's hard to find a game like this without the token tsundere (Akito, for instance), and yandere (Sakuya), characters. The three female protagonists are also very individual characters with compelling backgrounds. The quality of these main characters and their relationships is what really makes the story shine, not to mention the other characters encountered on the ship and in the world. As with all visual novels, this title's main strength has to be its story, and, thankfully, there is a solid and engrossing tale here that is a must for any genre fan.

The original Norn9 was released on the PlayStation Portable in Japan back in 2013, this updated version for the PlayStation Vita was released December 2014 in Japan, and it has now finally reached North America and Europe. Despite being an up-scaled PSP game, this Vita version is fantastic, it feels very much like it was made for the handheld, and it's easy to see why VN games are doing so well on it. The sprites may look a little worse than other elements, but this is because both the backgrounds and artwork scenes look beautiful, with a fantastic style and design that really shines on the Vita screen. Furthermore, the whole package is accentuated by a superb soundtrack by Kevin Penkin and an opening theme from the legendary Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame.

Being a visual novel, the "gameplay" aspects are very much just dialogue choices influencing the progression of the story, yet there are some extra features and attractions available to enjoy alongside the story mode. There is a mini-game called Norn Quest, which initially seems like an 8-bit, turn based battle, but actually turns out to be something much less. Instead a character is chosen from the cast, three other characters are then randomly selected as "enemies" and, depending on the matchups, they will award or subtract points from the score during little encounters; "Ron steals Kakeru's earring, -100 points," or "Koharu watered the plants with you, you enjoyed yourself! +100 points!" It's a disappointing addition that could have been a fun little distraction.

These points can be used in the store on the main menu to purchase short stories to play through, illustrations, 4Koma comics, and a pack of all the music tracks available. 4Koma comics are popular gag comics in Japan, short jokes told in four panels, and they work well with the cast here. The short stories are entire side-segments that expand on the story and cast a little more, and the illustrations are fantastic. There's enough side activities and bonus material to keep fans content and add enough to really round out the experience.