Vanillaware Month: Top 5 Moments

5) Princess Crown Prologue

The prologue of Princess Crown is very impactful, as it sets the groundwork for Gradriel's adventure as well as creating a great character in Gradriel's mother in just a few minutes. Witnessing Gradriel's mother take charge of her troops and lead them on the front lines was extremely effective in both giving Gradriel's mother a strong presence throughout the story as well as showing how strong a female videogame character could be, something that Vanillaware would continue to show throughout their games.

4) Lillet's Confession (Grimgrimoire)

Grimgrimoire gets a lot of attention for its yuri relationship between Lillet and Amoretta, and I've got no problem with that at all (obviously). It was great to see a lesbian relationship build between the two character over the course of the story. And that's what I liked the most about Lillet and Amoretta's relationship, they didn't just fall in love, their feelings developed over a long period of time and went through a lot of hardship; something rarely seen in the common heterosexual relationships in most stories, especially videogames. So why is Lillet's confession such a big moment? Because it is the culmination of all the struggles and feelings Lillet and Amoretta had been through throughout her adventure. It was such a heartfelt and beautiful moment complemented by beautiful music and expressive emotions from Lillet.

3) Oswald's Death (Odin Sphere)

Oswald is a character who, up to this point in the story, has gone from being an imposing villain to an empathetic dark knight. He had devoted himself to one he believed to understand him, but when he is betrayed by the one person he put his hopes and heart into, he finds no other alternative than to simply let the Halja cut his soul and carry him to the underworld. This scene is very impactful, as it shows just how much Gwendolyn meant to Oswald, as well as providing a strong dose of tragedy to the story of Odin Sphere. The execution of the scene is very well executed as well, making great use of the "stage" that Odin Sphere is played on.

2) Lillet Defeats Grimlet (Grimgrimoire)

The impact of this moment is quite obvious: we have been following Lillet as she has fought demons, discovered secrets of the tower, made mistakes, and even found love; and all of it culminated in this moment, when she makes a contract with the menacing Grimlet and fools him to his death. It was a brilliantly cunning move from Lillet that I didn't see coming, and my reaction was the same as Advocat's: laughter at the simple sight of the menacing Grimlet being fooled by a young girl.

1) Final Chapter of Mercedes' Book (Odin Sphere)

The final chapter of Mercedes' story contains two pivotal moments: 1) Mercedes' speech to her troops and 2) Mercedes defeats Odin. Mercedes' speech is the perfect culmination of her coming-of-age story, as she is no longer timid or scared to fight; she has become the queen that her mother wanted her to be and the one both Ingway and Brom knew she could be. After leading her army to victory, Mercedes doesn't kill Odin; not out of mercy, but to make him live with the shame of losing everything and being confined to his kingdom. Mercedes' story was a great coming-of-age story, and it truly couldn't have ended better than her final chapter.