Shukufuku no Campanella - Ritos and Salsa were great! Agnes best heroine!
Shukufuku no Campanella (祝福のカンパネラ) is a visual novel developed by Windmill Oasis and released in 2009. It also received a fandisk titled Shukusai no Campanella, which was released a year later in 2010. I have only played the original game so far, though I plan on catching up on the fandisk in the near future.
The story follows an artificer named Leicester Maycraft, who lives in the city of Ert'Aria and works as an adventurer for the Oasis clan alongside his childhood friend and titular main heroine, Carina Verritti, and the maid, Nina Lindberg. In Ert'Aria, it is time for the harvest festival, and everyone is excited to have some fun.
On the night of the festival, a shooting star appears and seemingly starts moving toward the cathedral. Curious, the group follows it. Upon entering a secret room, they find a mysterious girl sleeping on a bed. Just as Leicester nears her, she wakes up and says, "You're my father". Who is this girl? Was she transported by the shooting star, and why is Leicester her "dad"?
The main story is a mystery set in a magical world where Leicester tries to discover Minette's identity and solve the various complicated issues that are thrown at them. Each of the heroines has something magical about her that is revealed in her respective route, and all of them are, in some part, connected to the main plot.
The game features a complicated number of questions and flags required to activate the right routes and endings, so a walkthrough is suggested unless you really want to experiment. There is a route for all the heroines (including minor ones), but some of them only unlock after you have completed a certain number of other characters' stories.
Like many visual novels from that era, this one also has a rather awkward mini-game embedded where you are placed in a 3D environment during missions and must decide which direction to move. It is not particularly important, but I remember being a bit confused when I noticed it wasn't just a pre-rendered background but a real 3D scene.
The heroines are:
Carina Verritti: The main heroine of the story and the girl who appears most prominently in the promotional art. She has clearly been in love with Leicester since before the start of the game but is unable to express her feelings. She is one of the few remaining magicians in the world and the current master of Oasis. While she may look refined, she is prone to delusions whenever Leicester is involved.
Agnes Boulange: The self-proclaimed "Best Doll Maker in the World." She is a girl who recently traveled to Ert'Aria for the festival and works as a street performer with her automata in the city's main plaza. She is energetic, friendly, and often likes to tease those around her. She also loves sweets.
Chelsea Arcot: A knight-type heroine. She is one of the Temple Knights sent by another city to protect the artifacts delivered to Ert'Aria for the festival. She has a strong sense of duty and is generally a serious person, but she has absolutely no sense of direction, which causes her to get lost in the city more often than not.
Minette: A mysterious girl who appeared in front of Leicester and sits at the very center of the main plot. She is apparently an automata built by the legendary Mise Altoise (Agnes's teacher). She is childlike, innocent, and always sees the good in everyone she meets. Think of her as a sort of mascot for the group.
Ritos Tortilla and Salsa Tortilla: Twin sisters from the rival clan, the Tortilla Company. They, along with their automata Golem, are initially somewhat antagonistic toward the main group, but mostly in a comedic way. Think of them like the Team Rocket of the story. Salsa is clearly in love with Leicester, while Ritos loves to mess with and tease her.
Nina Lindberg: A maid who has been serving Carina since the founding of the Oasis clan. She is a motherly figure for everyone in the clan and handles most of the paperwork regarding accepting and managing the quests that the group undertakes. She seems to know everything about everyone through her mysterious intelligence network.
My favorite heroines are Ritos and Salsa, mainly because of their voices (Gotou Mai is a staple in the visual novel world) but also because of their personalities and interactions with the main cast. They start off as antagonists, but some of the scenes where they approach Leicester are incredibly cute, especially in their dedicated route.
Shukufuku no Campanella is definitely a recommended visual novel that offers quite a bit of content (over 60 hours for me). However, considering the low resolution (800x600), I suggest playing it with an upscaler like Lossless Scaling to get the best experience on a modern device.
