ACTUAL REVIEW: So I just finished Sorcery Jokers, and all I can say is I'm disappointed. Game started out great, with the two protagonists, episodic structure of the game and a big mysterious conspiracy to think about. But it just really goes downhill. With the exception of some other minor characters, of the 6 cast I only liked Senri. Haruto was probably one of my most disliked characters, what with him acting like a boring shounen protagonist to the very end, being the idealist goofball, then turning into an edgy teenager in the second chapter only to flip towards the end. The 4 heroines, well, they're there. Asahi is there as the female equivalent of Haruto, sticking to her ideals to the very end, but she ends up just as shallow because of that. Especially with the deus ex machina she pulls at the end. She's silly and cute, and has a worse hero syndrome than Haruto. No real conflict in her story though. She seems awfully accepting that her worldview is crumbling around her, but it's fine, cause she's a tough girl, and will help Haruto because they're partners and that's all that matters. She's the opposite of most characters in this game: simple, not complicated, yet still shallow in the end. Riku is a tsundere through and through, yet she suffers because someone else traded their life for her to live, and she just can't accept that. She also makes some nonsensical decisions just for the sake of drama. It takes a bit of a beating from Haruto & Asahi to get it through her skull that she doesn't have to throw her life away. Even worse when Akeno, who is the sole reason this whole substory is happening, mentions many times before that she can't REALLY bring her sister back, so she'll settle for a substitute, yet she just NEEDS Riku's heart for... reasons? Well ups, Hana is back and kicking at the end party and no sacrifice was needed. Hooray? Riku's betrayal is probably worse than the shit Fiona pulled, since she didn't have any deep history with the baddies or conflicting loyalties, it was just guilt doing the thinking for her, which is just purely OOC to me. Speaking of Fiona, she is the eyecandy of the game but also probably the strongest heroine if there wasn't Asahi. She truly embodies the theme of this game: "Hehe, did you think you could trust me? *stab*" Yes, she does a lot of betrayal and she's undoubtedly the most unredeemable of the 6 in this story. Although, her interactions with Senri in the second and third chapters are one of the best parts of this game, they're just overshadowed by all the BS drama that's forced between them. In particular I disliked the mansion confrontation, after Inui's speech where he literally goes "Actually, I killed your family, lied and used you... jk, just kidding, do as you're told" she seems to be unable to handle this, decides to be stabby-stabby one last time and has a nice fight with Senri before settling that she's good after all, and will start her third life anew. Well that took you long enough. "My family died in a plane crash involving magic (which wasn't even an accident as she finds out later), but I survived, eyepatch oldman took me in and gave me a reason to live. Yup, I just hate magic, so I'll help Sensei even if means I have to senselessly murder innocents and betray everyone around me." Other characters have similarly flimsy motivations, and it's even worse considering she had a consicence in the end and wasn't a sociopath. I'm actually okay with that, but this game takes it way too seriously and tries to spin it in such a way that I'm supposed to swallow it as a complex moral dillema. I'm sorry, but if you want me to enjoy this drama you're supposed to make it more believable. This is actually one of the reasons Ruu is probably my second favorite character in the game behind Senri. She's CARTOONISHLY evil. She's a complete psychopath that manipulated the other big baddies Fiona, Inui and Akeno and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She's ax-crazy and enjoys making other people suffer. Why do all this? Well, apart from because she's a sadist, because she loves her boss Touya and will do anything for him. Her yandere behavior brings her an amusing end with her love interest as well after his defeat. Nothing complicated to mull about, just pure evil and an entertaining character to boot. And coming back to the heroines there's Noah, who's a big ? for most of the game, whom you don't even get to know until the second chapter, yet is about as deep as Asahi. She's the Selector, Touya wants her for the new Holy War, and that's about it. There's some silly interactions between her and Senri, but just like Asahi, she doesn't have much of a deep conflict unlike the other 2 heroines. She also just poofs back into existence for the end party despite foreshadowing that she'd disappear if Senri undid the Victor's wish. Guess you just gotta have her for the epilogue. Speaking about them, they're essentially continuations where the protags decided to bed one of the girls, and just enjoy life with them in a world without magic. It's particularly awkward in Haruto's case, where it's strongly implied both Asahi and Riku developed feelings for him in the story, yet both end up as third wheels in each other's epilogue, content with Haruto not having them. H-scenes trump all I guess. Also, poor father Gaimon didn't deserve any of this. His death is actually the only part of the game I found somewhat emotional, despite him being a minor character. Coming back to the final of the 6, Senri, or more accurately Amabuki Tsumugu. He is the other and much better protagonist, a quiet intelligent mastermind whose single goal is to stop the conspiracy. Why? Because he's the son of the Victor Senri, who granted magic to the world in the first place. It's a personal and simple reason. Too bad his character doesn't develop much. From start to finish you have Senri never waver, unlike the other 2 cold characters, Fiona and Riku, his conflict is pretty much nonexistent. He's resourceful and everything in his story goes his way, unlike Haruto who dies twice. Not once you get to see him lose his temper, vulnerable and defeated. I suppose it's better that way for a hero to be a Gary Stu, since his personality is far more enjoyable than Haruto's as well as his dialogue.

But speaking of characters, there is one thing in this game that really grated me which made it that much less enjoyable, despite the fact that the 6 cast never were my cup of tea in the first place. But I was willing to tolerate that. What I didn't tolerate was how they BARELY interact with each other. This is why I liked the first chapter so much, with the 5 perspectives and crossing paths. From that point onwards it's just your 2 heroes and their 4 heroines in their pre-made little boxs, working towards the same goal, but only coming together 3 whole times in the entire story: briefly at the harbor when Noah and Haruto are captured, briefly in the underground room where Touya makes his mandatory big bad appearance and explains his plan, and at the end party. Before I realized the way the game was set up, I really liked the part where Riku briefly teamed up with Senri. They fought each other, but cooperated to achieve their goals. It was a different interaction you pretty much never get in the story again. How about making episodes dedicated to breaking up the gangs and setting them up with someone else? Doesn't have to be purple prose and silly interactions like in Haruto's high school life, but something meaningful, maybe even emotional moments you wouldn't otherwise expect that helps you bond with them. Haruto and Fiona? Senri and Riku? Asahi and Noah? The very fact that this game feels like 2 distinct stories glued together bothers me. Why couldn't have Senri's team get a bit of that cliche nakama spirit Haruto's group has. Explore each other's conflicts, understand each other and develop. Even in the end the 2 groups never team up to fight the big bad. To me this was a loss that really showed just how empty the characters felt to me in the story.

The story is just all over the place, especially in the last part of the game where they asspull Holy Wars and Dunamis. The first chapter is great, and despite introducing a bunch of characters, you get that abrupt ending, and now you're 1 year into the future. It's even worse with the climax on top of the Atori tower. The story loves throwing things in your way, and although I won't go too much into detail, none of the surprises were particularlly impactful to me. They were just that, surprises. Like how the big bad was a huge disappointment. Just like Ruu, he is pretty much comic book-tier villian, but he's the MAIN villain. "I want to be god and nobody will stand in my way." The fact that he is so unambiguously evil and even Asahi's lost brother for drama points just lead me to wonder if the 2 storywriters had a hiccup. In a story which tries to tell you that right and wrong aren't that distinct after all, THIS is the mastermind behind the entire plot? Man, was that a cheap ending. And I'm referring to the actual ending, where Senri decides to rid the world of magic, a conclusion I was expecting but I was also dreading. The game really drives home the point of whether magic is good or bad, with characters like Mikihisa colorfully reminding everyone that if it weren't for magic many wouldn't be in that immutable superior position over poor OutCasts like him (although Fiona could still kick his ass without it). Is it okay for magic to exist if it creates such discimination and big divides between people? Is it right for the world to be so dependent on a power so unpredictable and unknown? Well, don't mull over it too much, since ironically Inui and his organization were right in the end, and a world without magic is better. Not much grey area here to discuss, but it's the peaceful life Haruto always wanted and a happy ending for all 6. And speaking of happy endings, the fact that the drama between and with all 6 just unravels so predictably, was also rather cheap. The stort had plenty of moments where you thought a character wouldn't make it, with Haruto even having a direct death to a sword, yet everyone just comes out of it unscathed. Haruto's fine since he has his justification, but I'm particularly reminded of how Riku's heart was struggling when she used Magic without her Magi. But nope, nothing bad comes out of even that, making me wonder if this detail was there just for more unnecessary drama. The fact that that this world has such advanced technology like cloning to basically be immortal also seems to escape the story, and is merely a plotpoint to justify Haruto's hero role.

The art is great, the music is decent and the occasional comedy in particular from Senri's route is often welcome. If this game just tried to take itself less seriously, didn't have so many ass-pulls and tried to work more with the characters they made instead of relying on multiple reveals and drama, maybe I would've like it better. Not that it's a bad a game, but like I said, it was disappointing.