Introduction

psyman posted:

This is embarassingly lame, what are you 14?. Did you actually write all of that crap in the OP?. You should be receiving nothing but mockery.

Magical Diary: Horse Hall- it's just like my *~fanfictions!~*

Released in 2011, Magical Diary: Horse Hall (Steam purchase link here, $14.99 at the time of this post) is a visual novel-styled raising sim (well, not so much 'raising' as 'self-improvement') that takes place in the life of a young student as she's whisked away to the prestigious magic school known as Iris Academy, a premise that we no doubt find fresh and original. Here, she will not only learn the the ways of the five magical arts, but perhaps learn a way to gain a magical heart- by which, I mean she might find herself embroiled in tumultuous romance, swooning in the arms of a loving paramour. This too, is of course a premise that's totes original.

Sarcasm aside, Magical Diary is actually pretty good. It knows exactly what it is, it knows just who its target audience is, and simply plays along with that fact. The writing isn't going to win awards, but it doesn't expect to, and as long as you follow its philosophy and play along, I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. Even the Deviantart-ish styling start to grow on you after a while, and if you want my personal opinion, it makes a fine break from all the anime visuals one usually sees in VNs. Hanako, Magical Diary's writer, also has a lot of other, similar games at her website, Hanako Games, of which I can heartily recommend The Royal Trap at the very least (not least of all is because I helped proofread a route in it

).

Magical Diary's gameplay is quite simple, though far from the involved complexity of the similar Academagia (link is to an amazing LP by Bobbin Threadbare)- not to knock on the latter though. Most of the time, your choices will involve increases in stats, as well as affect hidden 'relationship points' with the 5 main romances, That being said, Magical Diary has more than enough material to supplement said romances, so even if our roleplay choices end with Mary being single, it should prove entertaining enough.

Of course, you also get a whole load of choices with which to shape your character, and I intend to let you guys vote whenever we reach such a decision point. I will also let you guys vote on the kinds of magic our heroine will study (more on said magics later). Within each update, most of the game's text will be in normal lettering (with a few alterations for flow), and my personal opinions in italics. If it's not too much trouble, I'm also embellishing the story a bit- I'm not taking anything out, mind you, but my journalistic integrity (I have a degree in it, you know!) won't let things slide without a little pep. This Let's Play is not intended to be a walkthrough! While you can get the general gist of what to do from reading this, and I will spoil mechanics and plot points once we're well out of spoiler range, I'll also be editing speeches and scenes to make them flow better.

~~That said, I will not edit out any dialogue (knowingly anyway); instead, all I'll add are Mary's personal thoughts.~~ At the beginning of the game, she's a little bland, only coming into her own later on. As such, the original plan to only edit in a few thoughts is kind of scrapped. Kind of.

But hey, enough of that- you came here to take part in a *~magical adventure~*, so here we go!

Here we see our young protagonist in her school robes at the character creation screen. As Iris Academy is a high-class boarding school, we are stuck with the Horse Hall uniform of green upon grey. Insofar as character creation is concerned, this is it- we can change Mary's body shape to something a little more curvy, as well as her hairstyle and eye colour. That being said, come on! How could we NOT be a pink as possible elven supermodel?

And with that, let us begin...

Since it was requested in the thread, let's have a list of Mary's spells and their descriptions!

Light (1 Mana): A gentle glow improves visibility in the caster's location.
Farsight (1 Mana): Allows the caster to view a nearby known location.
Silence (2 Mana): A single target is rendered temporarily noiseless.
Truesight (2 Mana): Allows the caster to see through illusions in the current location.
Darkness (5 Mana): Completely removes visibility in the caster's location.
Reflection (15 Mana): Interrupts a spell being cast to reflect it onto its caster.
Teleport Other (15 Mana): Relocate an object or entity to a nearby known location.
Teleport Self (20 Mana): Relocate caster to a nearby known location.
Dispersion (20 Mana): Sacrifices some of the caster's magic, causing a target to lose magic similarly.
Cloak (25 Mana): Caster alters their visual projections, becoming difficult to see for a short period of time.
Disruption (25 Mana): Interrupts the casting of a spell, causing it to fizzle.

Breeze (1 Mana): Moves air around the caster's current square, creating a gentle breeze.
Warm (3 Mana): Add heat to the caster's current square, raising the temperature slightly.
Spark (3 Mana): A spark strikes the target, which may catch fire if it's something likely to burn.
Push Object (5 Mana): Shove a target one square in the direction indicated by the caster.
Slash (10 Mana): A sharp blow to the target causes focused damage.
Crush (15 Mana): Force pushes in around the target from all sides, causing damage.
Blast (20 Mana): An explosive force causes damage to the target and may knock nearby targets back.

Inspection (1 Mana): Detects weak points and hidden details within one target object.
Inscription (1 Mana):Write or remove words from a target object.
Detect Charm (3 Mana): Detects objects that have been enchanted in character's current location.
Trigger (5 Mana): Sets off simple delayed effects or traps within the caster's current location. Can be dangerous!
Seal (10 Mana): Fixes objects in place or fuses them shut.
Open (10 Mana): Unlocks and opens doors or other objects that are designed to open and close.
Stoneshape (20 Mana): Rearranges a small amount of stone into a new configuration.

Spirit Sight (1 Mana): Detects nearby sentients, including ghosts and creatures of the Otherworld.
Empathy (3 Mana): Reveals the emotional state of a target.
Communication (5 Mana): Allows the caster to communicate understandably with a willing target.
Awareness (10 Mana): Expands caster's mind to visualise nearby locations, marking them known.

Burn Magic (20 Mana): Transmutes the targets magical energy into heat causing damage.

Transfer Charm (15 Mana): Move an enchantment from one object to another.

Farspeak (7 Mana): Communicate with willing subject in nearby known location.

The Let's Play Archive

Magical Diary: Main Route

by CommissarMega

Introduction

psyman posted:

Table of Contents