TAISHO x ALICE episode 1 Review Summary

Outstanding voice acting and a recommended Red Riding Hood route are let down by a boring overall story, a criticized Cinderella route, limited content, and persistent achievement bugs.

Voice acting is outstanding: Reviewers consistently praise the voice acting as exceptional, phenomenal, and a highlight of the game. The dialogue delivery is noted as well done and contributes significantly to the overall experience.

Red Riding Hood endearing: The Red Riding Hood character is frequently described as cute, shy, and innocent, with a hidden personality that is endearing and fun to tease. This characterization is a major positive point for players.

Red Riding Hood route fun: Players found the Red Riding Hood route smooth, fun, and delightful, with a cute and funny storyline. The route was often highlighted as a highlight of the game.

Cinderella route enjoyable: Reviewers enjoyed the Cinderella route, citing its cute and fun nature, good plot, and likable characters. It was generally well-received.

Protagonist personality appealing: The protagonist's personality is consistently highlighted as appealing, unique, and assertive, with a 'little devil' charm that fits players' tastes. Her character and design are admired.

Story is boring overall: The majority of feedback finds the story lacking excitement, stakes, and interesting hooks, making it painful to sit through. This is a recurring theme across multiple clusters, including the overall story, specific routes, and beginnings.

Cinderella route widely criticized: The Cinderella route is frequently described as clunky, boring, meaningless, and frustrating, with weak logic and character appeal. Its ending also lacks proper resolution and the narrative has significant financial subplots.

Age ratings route deemed annoying: The Red Riding Hood route is repeatedly criticized as boring, repetitive, confusing, and uncomfortable to sit through. The plot is seen as far-fetched, unnatural, and full of logic conflicts, with a predictable and abrupt happy ending.

Game has limited content: The game is criticized for having too few CGs, only two routes, and its split into four parts feels like a bumpy release. The price is considered high relative to the content amount and quality offered.

Female protagonist is passive submissive: The female lead is consistently portrayed as excessively eager to please, submissive, servile, and devoted to male characters, which makes her unlikeable to reviewers. This behavioral flaw heavily detracts from the romance and story experience.

Multiple branching character routes: Players can choose between different love interest routes, each with unique stories and episodes, leading to a branching narrative structure. This is a core gameplay and structure element.

Otome visual novel genre: The game is consistently identified as a Japanese otome visual novel with romance routes and character interactions. It focuses on story and relationships with multiple male leads.

Fairy tale based stories: The narrative reuses classic fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, with twists and reimplementations across different routes. This provides a unique flavor to each character's storyline.

Visual novel narrative style: The game is a script-based visual novel that relies on reading dialogue and following story routes, with gameplay focused on narrative choices rather than action or adventure.

Episode-based story structure: The game is structured in episodes or a series, where the overall story unfolds in a sequential and episodic manner, possibly with potential sequels or fan discs. This format affects the pacing.

Achievements fail to unlock: Players report that achievements do not trigger, including a specific bug at the end of the game where achievements remain locked despite trying different methods. This issue affects completion experience.

Fullscreen causes lag and crashes: Playing in fullscreen mode leads to lag and program crashes, which disrupts gameplay. The crashes can occur when settings are maximized, especially in simplified Chinese mode, sometimes requiring deleting configuration files to fix.

Low resolution is blurry: The low resolution in fullscreen mode appears blurry, and the game's resolution is not optimized for larger screens. This reduces visual quality and player experience.

No widescreen or 4K support: The game lacks support for widescreen and 4K resolutions, limiting display options for modern monitors. This is a common complaint among players expecting higher resolution compatibility.

Broad recommendation for otome fans: Numerous clusters recommend the game to otome and visual novel fans, highlighting its enjoyable story and characters. This is the most frequent positive theme, suggesting strong appeal within the genre's core audience.

Positive recommendation overall: A significant number of reviewers directly recommend the game as worth playing, with some noting it as a fun experience. This includes both general positive recommendations and those who still recommend the game despite flaws.

Buy on sale or discount: Many reviewers recommend purchasing the game during a sale or discount, as the full price is considered high for the content provided. Buying the bundle or waiting for promotions is advised to get better value.

Story praised but flawed: The story is often described as interesting with plot twists, but some reviewers note weak logic or issues that require tolerance. The consensus is that the narrative is engaging enough to recommend with caveats about specific flaws.

Play later episodes for full story: Multiple reviewers advise that Episode 1 only covers part of the series and players should continue with later episodes for the complete narrative. The first episode is often seen as a setup, with the full story developing across sequels.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 8.0h.

Story completion: 7.0h.

Most players find the game slow and off-putting initially, but after the prologue or a few hours of gameplay, the narrative deepens and enjoyment clicks for the majority. A minority never connects with the writing style.

Friction: Slow pacing and boring start; Confusing and weird prologue; Cringey dialogue and humor; Generic or slow episodic setup; Blank-slate protagonist initially feels uninteresting.

Unlock drivers: Narrative deepens and plot progresses; Characters become endearing over time; Emotional buildup and dramatic romance payoff; Better writing quality in later chapters.

Disillusioned Traditionalist: Completionist, content-focused, comparative buyer who evaluates value against other otome games. Motivation: Seeking satisfying traditional otome romance and good value for money across multiple routes and CGs. Stance: no buy.

Meta-Enthusiast: Analytical, patient, enjoys unraveling deeper narrative layers and psychological themes. Motivation: Discovering the meta-narrative, psychological complexity, and fairy tale deconstructions built across episodes. Stance: buy.

Character-Driven Casual: Casual, relaxed, enjoys lighthearted character interactions and romantic slice-of-life moments. Motivation: Relishing charming characters, cute romantic dynamics, and high-quality presentation (art, music, voice). Stance: sale.

External guides: The most prominent external data dependency is the need for guides to successfully navigate story outcomes, particularly for character-specific good endings. This reflects a lack of in-game instructional support for complex branching paths.

Episodic release structure noted: Many players mention the game is sold in multiple episodes or as a bundle, with references to planned and available sequels. This affects purchase decisions and expectations.

Translation quality mixed: Feedback on translation varies, with some players praising the smooth English translation while others report poor prose, artificial tone, and untranslated phrases. This affects the narrative experience.

Story is fairy tale adaptation: The game adapts Brothers Grimm fairy tales with a twist, which is appreciated by players. The inclusion of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood routes is highlighted.

Pricing and value concerns: Players discuss the game's price in relation to its content, with some finding it reasonable during sales and others considering the full price not worth it. Comparisons to other otome games highlight value differences.

Visual novel with otome elements: The game is frequently labeled as an otome visual novel, with a focus on romance and story. Players understand the genre conventions and advise ignoring logical inconsistencies.