From what I remember no, but then again its been years since I last read it.
Iāve just reached what I believe to be the halfway point or so in MLA (Start of Episode 8). Wow, that last chapter was justā¦ wow. Excuse me while I continue readingā¦
Edit: Early Ep8 spoilers Totally called the appearance of the 00 Unit way before it happened.
good luck
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Finished it just now. TL;DR version of the post below: It was pretty damn good, but not as good as Iād hoped. Spoilers for all of Alternative, naturally.
First off, since I just went through it I guess Iāll talk about the final mission and ending. I must say, I found the buildup of Operation Cherry Blossom to be quite superbly made, and the operation itself did live up to that. My main problem comes with the last stages of the operation and the subsequent ending. Sorry, but having the protagonistās growth and overcoming his weaknesses be pretty much the main focus of THE ENTIRE SECOND THIRD of the story and then having him nowhere near over those weaknesses in the last mission to the point where all the other characters purposefully deceive him so he doesnāt compromise the mission because of itā¦ was not nice to see. Especially with how Meiyaās death scene was stretched out to I think almost ten minutes. If that scene had instead been Takeru making up his mind and just shooting immediatly, that wouldāve been a great way to show how far he had come. I feel that really was a missed opportunity. I guess heāll never really change after all. I still have no idea how the Susanoāo suddenly got all its sapped power back to make that last shot btw.
As for the whole causality conductor thingā¦ eh. I didnāt care for the final explanation. Maybe itās because I never got an explanation for how the space-time continuum got ripped that satisfied me. Maybe itās because I expected an explanation that just clicks all the pieces together for an ultimate āoh shitā epiphany. Maybe itās because I had hoped it would include an explanation for the BETAās existence in that world beyond āthey came from somewhere for some reason.ā But mostly I think itās because it just felt kinda handwaved. Like yeah, okay, Sumika was able to do that. It happened. Uh huh. Oh well. I guess Iām spoiled from other VNs when it comes to great explanations for the multiple worlds plot point.
Final Episode MuvLuv was a bit too short for my taste. No idea how that world came to be, no idea where itās headed. I also really, really wished for Takeru to just retain all his memories. So to me, that was not the best way to end the story. Also a bit disappointed in the lack of a Music Room.
But all that negativity aside, MLA was great. Atmospherically it was incredible, building a world with such a well-conveyed feeling of desperation and immersing the reader in it completely. It has by far the best-looking action scenes Iāve ever seen in a visual novel, and it was really good at making dramatic war and battle scenes. And yet, the chapter where Takeru returns to the Extra-world is probably my overall favorite part of the entire VN because itās really gripping and makes you so badly want to find out whatās going on and how to stop it (too freaking bad it never got a proper satisfying explanation, but Iāve gone on about that long enough). That freak accident of Sumikaās was total coincidence, wasnāt it? ā¦anyways. One thing MLA did wonderfully was to make the āfun timesā of Extra feel nostalgic and make you invested in having Takeru get back to them. Takeru x Sumika was my OTP since forever so seeing it be the main focus was quite satisfying. Poor Extra-Meiya though. Besides that, the entire scene with Beta-Sumikaās backstory was so damn well made as it simultaneously shocked me and made my immediate respect for Takeru for his reaction shoot through the roof. Finally, the OST and opening movie are amazing. The best Iāve seen in quite a while.
So in the end, what can I say? I enjoyed it for sure. It was a great read. But did it live up to the hype? No, definitely not. I suppose my final impression was hindered by the high expectations I had of the storyās integrity, which reaaaally isnāt one of MLAās good points. It takes liberties that I was dying to hear an explanation for but never got one that actually satisfied me. And itās not trivial details that went unexplained, itās parts of the plot I was actually very invested in, which is why it bothers me as much as it does. The cast of characters was great, but not that outstanding either. Especially when it comes to development there was a lot to be desired. Donāt get me wrong, there was quite an amount of good character developmentā¦ but there was the potential for so much more than that. And thatās how I feel about much of MLA, and the entire thing as a whole as well. Great, but with some improvements it easily couldāve been unforgettable.
Well thatās that. And with that Iāve finished my must-read list of visual novels. It was a busy three months.
Edit: I didnāt go back and choose any different choices yet. Should I?
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Depends on the type of person you are. I personally wont ever go back to it because, or do any more choices. The memories I have of MuvLuv will forever stay how I remember it. I donāt want to see any alternatives. Same reason why if an anime is ever made, I wont watch it.
But thatās just me. If you feel that there is more to the story then go ahead, but remember. you will never feel the same way as experiencing it for the first time.
Your opinions match the general sentiment towards MLA I think. The reason itās rated so high is because a lot of people gave it a 10/10, not because itās objectively better than other top VNs. (I would rate CLANNAD as 11/10 or 12/10 and MLA as 10/10, but the scale only goes up to 10, so the effective score is equal to a 10/10 score. So it appears as though I would rate MLA and CLANNAD equally when I donāt.
I didnāt really like the final chapter either, I completely agree with you there ā Takeru hardly got any better throughout the story!! And I wasnāt really affected by the girlsā deaths (besides Meiya) because you knew they were gonna die. And the fact that Takeru forgot everything in the new universe just made me kind of mad. Seeing Kasumi cry was touching, though.
I was satisfied by the science even if it was lolwrong, though. They mentioned several times that the G-Bombs had strange residual effects, so it wasnāt too much of a stretch that the G-Bombs were able to propel Sumikaās consciousness to bring Takeru to the Unlimited universe. (Sort of.)
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The Muv-Luv localization kickstarter just went live!
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It hasnāt even been out for an hour and weāre already at $120,000! I pledged $800. Hype!
Grabbed the last $300 tier~
Will be keeping an eye on my income to try and nab that TSF jacket.
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Nabbed one as well.
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Iām trying to save as much money as possible to throw at Rewrite whenever that happens (please happen). As such, Iām still undecided how much to pledge. The BETA plushie is something I was really happy to see but $140 is a bit steep for my current finances.
WRT to the VNs: Iām hoping to play MLA - assuming the official English does come out eventually on Steam (2017 release still possible?) - to see what all the fuss is about.
Soā¦I have completed Extra in double quick time, completing all routes but doing a hell of a lot of skipping, and all I can manage to say about it that at least lacrosse makes a change from baseballā¦
Just started Unlimited and it seems much more interesting and engaging right from the off although of course you need to have got through Extra to fully appreciate that.
Quite honestly, I did not find the side girl routes particularly good, with the exception of class repās. It gives you a taste of what Muv-Luv is really good at: Intense drama that persists over an extended period of time, never letting the reader off the hook easily. The main girl routes, however, were certainly enjoyable.
Unfortunately, the game also shows its bad side during Extra, like that disgustingly unnecessary and mood-breaking panty shot during the date with Sumika.
As for Unlimited, it can get pretty repetetive. But itās not like you have to get through every single ārouteāā¦
Now, for the most important question, @BotanRugbyBall :
Sumika or Meiya?
Put me on the spot, why donāt you 
Not easy, if I had to choose one based on Extra then probably Meiya - but Iāll have one of each please 
Sorry that is the wrong answer. Even if you only look at Extra, Sumika was always, is always, and will forever be best MuvLuv girl.
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What can I say? I have a thing about blue & purple haired girls!
Edited to add: Didnāt realise there is a trailer for MLA on Steam but itās taken a helluva time since being greenlit already.
(Video has spoilers apparently)
EDIT #2
Right, well now I have finished Unlimited and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It feels much leaner than Extra with a strong narrative, and while Extra is clearly meant to major on the light and fun, the fun parts in Unlimited for me were more satisfying. Competed all endings and got all the Steam achievements, about 40 hours all told for the two parts.
I did like the shock of the new element and that it links back to Yuukoās theory in Extra which seemed like a throwaway thing at the time. I did like that Takeru was basically pretty useless at the start of Unlimited, makes a change from some all powerful protagonist such as Grisaia. I think Iād actually pick Yuuko Sensei as best girl closely followed by Kasumi! Idid have the awkward feeling that Sumika was the brain thingy 
Itās a shame the two games are lumped together in a way as I would give Extra 5.5 and Unlimited 7.5 which means a slightly misleading 6.5 for VNDB voting. It doesnāt make my top tier of VNs but Iām glad I spent the money on it albeit cheap in the winter sale.
Negatives
I liked Ayamine in Extra but her character was for me very dull in Unlimited.
Fanservice (even in Steam version) - especially the ridiculous bodyform female armour
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Muv-Luv Alternative Official English translation VN to be released on Steam 19th September
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And backers get access to a beta release~
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I have to say the first 5 chapters of MLA felt rather so-so. mainly being a retread on familiar ground of āUnlimitedā for about 15 hours of reading. OK so we do get a slightly different perspective but all the music seemed to be the same, with the only extras being that we learn more about Kasumi.
Chapter 6 is definitely ramping it up though to a higher level with some revealing links back to things we didnāt have explained in āExtraā. I still donāt see why at this point MLA gets such high regard but I still have several chapters to go yetā¦
