Review: Time Princess - Saga of Viera

Saga of Viera is the latest visual novel that the Time Princess app released as part of their massive one-year anniversary update. The story takes place in a high fantasy RPG world of elves, curses, and gods. It is about as short as their Swan Lake visual novel and contains a number of unsatisfying "good" endings like Helen of Sparta and Shadows of London. Though I enjoyed the story in Saga of Viera more than Helen or Shadows, I was disappointed to see it end abruptly with no resolution for the downtrodden protagonist. I've always been a fan of fantasy video games and even wrote a book inspired by them, so the elven kingdom setting and aesthetics were very appealing to me. It was also nice to have another original story, so I didn't feel like I was missing something by not being familiar with the original work like with Little Women.

In Saga of Viera, you play as a fortune-teller named Zoya whose bloodline is cursed. Due to magical reasons beyond her knowledge or understanding, every member of her family has died before their 25th birthday, and she is not far behind. Since the problem is related to magic, Zoya is convinced that only magic can solve it, something that is not very common in her human kingdom. In her haste to break the curse, she sets her sights on the elven kingdom of Aurethel, where she believes that the elves might be able to use their magic to save her from her fate. Since she has no means of reaching the kingdom in time, however, she decides to impersonate the Holy Maiden from her village and embark on the upcoming pilgrimage to Viera in her place. Impersonating a princess is one thing, but trying to trick the church during a holy quest is far riskier and made it a struggle to sympathize with Zoya at first.

This story does not allow much time for the player to develop a romance with any character, which was disappointing because it contained one of my favorite potential love interests in Time Princess thus far. Reuel is an elven holy man who exudes a calming intellectual presence, though his lack of pointy ears makes me question whether he is actually an elf at all. His stoic yet kind-hearted nature would have made him irresistible if I had the option to romance him. The other new companion in this story is a Dark Elf named Salvia who introduces herself to Zoya by threatening her life. I personally was not a fan of her, though selecting her path reveals that she is only bitter because her people's lands were taken from them unfairly, and she wishes to use Zoya's mission as an attempt to restore them.

The beautiful flowing robes in this novel reminded me of high fantasy video games like Legend of Zelda. Since Zoya is intercepting a holy mission, many of the characters wear religious-inspired robes and garb, such as the veiled Holy Maiden dress, which looks like a feminine version of something the Pope would wear to a formal event. My favorite gown was her "light" elf dress, which was made of powder blue satin with white chiffon overlays and purple floral accents. The beaded purple flower circlet that goes with it is to die for! She also has a Dark Elf set that is similar to Salvia's outfit, a peasant garb from her fortune-telling days in the village, and a blue nautical-inspired dress. I didn't like the fashions from this story quite as much as the ones in Helen of Sparta, but they certainly came close.

If Saga of Viera had at least one satisfying ending, it could have been one of my favorite visual novels in Time Princess. I waited patiently to earn enough goodwill to unlock the final chapter only to learn that Zoya never finds a way to break her curse no matter which outcome the player chooses. I hope the creators of this game make a continuation to this story instead of constantly bombarding players with new ones in the hopes that they might forget the ones that went unfinished. I did like that every single decision in this visual novel counts toward the numerous outcomes of the story. My only disappointment is that none of those outcomes provide a satisfactory resolution for Zoya's plight, though some come closer than others.