So, I promised a post about my first impressions of Eien no Aselia – Kono Daichi no Hate de. And here we have it. This is by far the best game so far that I´ve played this year. Hopefully something can top it since it isn´t a game that has been released this year.

Story
Yuuto is somewhat of a jinx, his parents died and he was adopted by his new sister Kaori´s parents. Soon after they also died and Kaori being in coma. As the young child he is he can´t do anything but pray. He wishes for a miracle, that Kaori should be saved and he would give anything for it to happen.

A voice appears in his head, with short and hard to understand words it promises to save Kaori if Yuuto abides to make a contract. To save Kaori and give her a happy life Yuuto agrees to this.

Kaori is saved and they start living together as brother and sister.

They grow older and start going to high school. Yuuto has headaches on random intervalls and he can´t understand it.

These headaches get their explanation the day he himself and Kaori are transported to an alternate world. A world where spirits exists and Yuuto is called an Etranger. Looking for Kaori Yuuto finds himself before the king of a land, Rakios and Kaori is kept prisoner.

To guarentee Kaori´s safety Yuuto has to fight against the other countries spirits as an Etranger.

Characters
There is a great mix of characters and personalities here. Yuuto himself is being torn a part by his mind, is killing spirits alright to save Kaori? What is his other alternatives? He can´t find any. But he still wants to help the spirits that are under his command. They do not have to die if they ask him and he treats them as humans where everyone else is treating them as tools of murder and slaughter.

Espelia, a green spirit in maid clothes is the dorm master one could say and while she is excellent in everything she does she seems to have a dark past.

Aselia is a blue spirit with no sense of living except for battle. It is when she in battle that she is shining the most. Even if she doesn´t speak much and it takes time to get to know her she is full of thoughts and is good at crafting.

Orpha is a red spirit and acts much like a child. She calls Yuuto “papa” and is hyper active. She is a mixed personality, she enjoys killing her enemies as everyone around her will praise her if she does. But she still has a soft side to her.

Lesteena is the princess of Rakios and she does not share her fathers view of controlling the surrounding countries by force. She believes in a world where there is no war and will gladly act the part of the villain to aquire this.

One thing that is pretty cool is that in this game some minor characters, one could call them generic spirits are also given some time in the spotlight if you keep them alive. You get to know them better.

Battles
The battle system is great for a SRPG. So far I am able to have four squads based on: Attacker, Defender and Support.

The attacker is the position where you will attack the enemy. As long as you have a Defender you will not be hurt as a Attacker unless the opponent uses certain magic skills. Any type of spirit have certain attack skills but from what I can understand blue spirits along with red spirits are a good choice for this position.

The Defender is the guard of the squad and is the one that mainly takes the assault of the enemys attacker. Thanks to their high def and hp green spirits are a good choice for this position.

The Support unit is a bit of jack of all trades. They can make stats increase, attack with magic, seal the opponents magic, heal and on and on. All depending on what kind of squad you want to build you may use blue or red spirits here for either cancelling the opponents magic or attacking with fire based magic. Green spirits usually boost defense or heal the squad when placed in this position.

There is also a fourth type of character. These are called all-round but since I haven´t gotten the time to play with any of this type all I can say is that they get to use all their skills in one turn. Which is great.

Battles take place on a world map.

You have a set route where you can attack or move each round. Or train your soldiers. When it comes to attacking or defending a town/castle the siad town/castle can provide special boosts in defense to the defending group. You also regain your skill uses and a fixed amount of HP after each turn is over.

So if you have a town/castle under your controll you have a big advantage.

It´s fun to play and fight. Sure it can get a bit repetetive since they only have so much to say before they use their attacks and skills. But still, this system is great and brings out strategy. A weaker group can defeat a stronger unit if played correctly.

Thoughts
This is the non erotic version of the game. So all erotic scenes and some bloody scenes are removed. But I don´t mind. I like this game and I sure as hell recommend anyone who has an interest in a great storyline and a great system for battles to get your hands on this title. With or without the erotic material.

I just wish that they would work on Seinarukana. The sequel I think it is.

If I should have to complain about one thing it is that the girls are designed to look a bit young for my tastes. Aselia is super cute but she doesn´t appear to have any chest. So while it is refreshing to see that they don´t focus on having a mix of breast sizes it would be better if they had somewhat more different ones in this title. Not that I focus on that when I play.

But just a quick reflection. Otherwise this is a great game.