Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Crescendo is a visual novel that has a narrative that's good at describing the thoughts/feelings that each character is thinking/feeling,as well as describing every little body movement each character makes in detail so you can get a good idea of how relaxed or tense a character is.

The story is about how there's 4 days left until the characters graduate highschool and it's a time of mixed emotions for them because you can see how the students are taking it easy and are enjoying not having to study or do exams but some of them are sad because they won't get to see eachother much anymore and they will probably never see certain people from their school ever again.

You'll play as a character named Ryo.I won't talk much about Ryo's life because I don't want to spoil it for you but I'll say Ryo has a very painful past and he often gets into fights with other students.But the bad things that happened to Ryo in the past and problems at school allowed Ryo to meet certain characters and develop deep and interesting relationships with them,such as the relationship he has with his adopted sister(Ayame) and the school nurse(Kaori).The relationships he has with Ayame and Kaori can be more meaningful or inspiring than you originally thought they would be and the relationship Ryo has with Ayame is very heartfelt(you'll have to watch this visual novel to see what I mean).I like how Kaori talks in a very cynical,open,firm way because it's funny a school nurse would use the words she does or act the way she does.She also allows Ryo to visit her office to skip class and nap or just to talk sometimes.

Ryo has more complex relationships with other characters,such as the one he has with a girl named Kaho who Ryo has had feelings for for years but she initially rejected him and started dating Ryo's friend but now she has feelings for Ryo even though she's still dating Ryo's friend.

Kyoko is the innocent,sweet kind of girl and she has feelings for Ryo but she's shy because she's self-consious about the fact she's quite taller than the other girls.She is also Kaho's best friend.

Yuka is a girl who doesn't start of as Ryo's friend and she prostitutes herself but her personality and level of intelligence can surprise you.

Miyu is a character who is harder to find and it's harder to unlock her path so I guess you could say she's kind of like a secret character and she's supposed to add spookiness to the game.

Crescendo allows you to date/have sex with Ayame,Kaori,Kaho,Kyoko,Yuka,Miyu but you can miss out on dating them or making them your girlfriend(get the bad ending)and you can miss out on having sex with too.Like in most visual novels,you'll make decisions that affect the story.

The bottom line is,I enjoyed Crescendo,it's character stories can be emotional and some of the characters can surprise you or have entertaining personalities.I also like how the teenage girls and Kaori have distinctively different interests and style of humor and I like Kaori's mature style of humor.
The artstyle has a more conservative look because it's not as colorful as other anime-inspired things but I like the traditional hairstyles on the female characters and how you can see hair strands and combed patterns in their hair and the girls look cute and have the typically nice figures but with more conservative styles of clothing.But it doesn't mean you won't see a lot of cleevage from busty female characters.Crescendo has some nice artwork for some of it's scenes such as when you see Ryo and a particular girl who I choose for him to be with standing and cuddling eachother under a sunset and there is nice shadowy effects.

Cresencdo's story paths are very short(roughly 2 hours long)and if you try to date/have sex with every girl,it will take you 6 playthroughs(around 12 hours).

The music for the game can be annoying,especially the piano music that plays for most of the game and it sounds like the type of piano music that I'd hear in a tarvern in a cowboy movie.

But overall,Crescendo is a heartfelt and enjoyable experience.