I've been playing Blue Archive since 2021 during the time when the pandemic was still in affect. Blue Archive was a game that I've been anticipating ever since I saw the JP trailer. A few of my friends first showed it to me and the art style and music from the trailer alone made me interested in the game. So when the game first launched globally in 2021 I decided to try it out and had fun. I didn't really think it was revolutionary or anything. The gameplay was okay and I just thought it was just a nice, cozy, and chill gacha game. But let me talk about why I stayed and why I hold this game close to my heart.

If you ask a Blue Archive fan what they love about this game they'll either answer the "art" (you know what I mean), characters, or the story. In my instance it's the story, so let me talk about it. Volume 1 and 2 were okay but they just didn't click with me at the time. But then I read Volume 3 which was "Eden Treaty" and loved it (No, I am not biased because Mika's in it (okay maybe slightly)). Volume 3 alone made me go through a ton of emotions that I never thought I could get from a gacha game, let alone videogames in general. Prior to this I never really played games for the stories. I was always a "gameplay > story" type of person back then. But that volume alone made me change my perception. I basically fell in love with the story, characters, world, or basically anything related to this game. Because of that, I started to try to dive into the world of Visual Novels to find even more incredible stories. If I never played this game I don't think I would have ever liked visual novels or let alone be able to appreciate amazing well-written stories. It's honestly incredible how a few great words can change a person's view on something, and I think that's something really incredible to think about.

After that I continued playing Blue Archive and quite basically fell in love with it. Every main story after volume 3 were genuinely incredible. They keep getting better and better which leads me to: Volume F. This volume came out at probably at my lowest time of my life. I was failing classes, I was stressed out, I was about to graduate not knowing what the hell I was supposed to do with my life. But one day I decided to start Volume F and that might've been the best decision of my life. You know that feeling of "a media so good that you wish to keep on living?". This volume was basically my media. Volume F changed my life and made me basically sell my soul to this game. I never thought a giant mech fighting a giant fat chicken would look so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cool, I never thought the sentence "I liked robbing banks too" could make me laugh and cry. I never thought such simple words like "Please take care of my students" could make me breakdown into tears. I never thought I could cry 3 times in a "cute and funny game" that everyone despised. Everything about this Volume made me appreciate my life even more. While the world might not be in it's best state right now. There are still small glimpses of happiness out there that makes it worth living.

While people will look down on this game because it's apparently "problematic media". This game is special to me, and that's all that matters.


Also, I have Hatsune Miku btw.

I have no words other than peak fiction. Out of all of the episodes, episode 4 is definitely the best one out of all of them, The climax and the conclusion of the story felt satisfying and will stick to me for the rest of my life. I will hold this series dear to my heart because of the roller coaster of emotions it made me went through. Also the OP and ED are bangers. "DEAR MY WAKER" was the first time I ever heard of 9-nine and I am thankful to it for introducing me to this beautiful series.

Noa is so cute I almost died from diabetes (gap moe does things to people). Definitely my favorite heroine in the series besides Sora. They blended the romance and plot progression so nicely that the romance aspect doesn't feel out of place or forced in. Incredible voice acting from all of the cast too.

SPOILERS AHEAD ON THIS PARAGRAPH (duh): The way they use basic Visual Novel actions/options and ingrain it into the story as an artifact power (Overlord) is honestly a really cool concept. It doesn't just make us a self insert, it literally makes us engage in the story as US. We aren't just a reader or an observer anymore, we are a character in this story, the 9th member of artifact users that will take down Iris. This is something that only a media form like visual novels/video games can offer and I love that they take full advantage of that. Stuff like the fake ending and Iris trying to find us through the screen to get us. The Illusion of engagement from those simple actions just makes the story way more engaging than it could've ever been and I love this series for that.

Anyways, if you're currently reading this through reviews while contemplating to buy the series (I did this back then lol). I'll say this: I know that the game can get quite expensive to get into, but I sincerely believe that an episode type of approach is the best way to do this type of story telling, It takes full advantage to the fact that it's a visual novel and doesn't hold back on it. The best way to get into this series if you're still hesitant on buying it is to play the first 2 episodes, if you loved them then continue on to episode 3 and after that 4. Trust me, you will not regret it though it will depend on your tastes in Visual Novels. Personally I loved it and the pay off is incredible. ALSO DO NOT SKIP EPISODES, THEY ARE EPISODES 1-4 FOR A REASON!!!

Anyways, Noa is best girl.