I’ve been reading “If My Heart Had Wings”, and finished the common and Kotori routes so far. I’ve found it a pleasant read although as is my way some of the “blossoming romance” sections too long and sugary (just my personal tastes here). I like the use of the Soaring Club and glider as a symbol of independence, growth and freedom - though I might be overthinking it a bit!
The common route is very long and I didn’t get the first choice until some 9 hours of (slowish) reading, I was surprised when the intro movie cut in as it was so far into the VN I’d forgotten we hadn’t had one yet! I quite like Kotori although she doesn’t stand out much to me as a character compared to others in other games, the route is a little heavy on melodrama.
Bear in mind, I’m playing the unpatched Steam version; initially I didn’t see many translation issues but as the VN went on there were more and more silly errors which look like sloppiness and a lack of quality checking rather than weak translation (not that I’d know). E.G. a female character being referred to as ‘she’ in one sentence then ‘he’ in the next! A bit minor but annoying. I really did not want to mess about with the Restoration patch though (don’t need H-Scenes), so my bad.
Will say more when I’ve completed all the routes, but for now I’d put this below CLANNAD and Steins;Gate but well above Grisaia in my ratings. I don’t think this will have a lasting resonance.
