User blog:General Khor/High School Story: The Review

Hello and welcome to another review blog by General Khor, and today, I want to talk about one of Choices' longest running franchaises, one full of excitement and laughs. Yes, I'm talking about High School Musi- wait, what am I talking about again? Oh right, it's High School Story, which as you know, has finally come to an end after two and a half years.

Initially, I decided I had no reason to play this franchise, the main reason I changed my mind is that I needed to stock up on diamonds to complete my goals for TC&TF and ES (right now I've just started another run of BB, and I guess I'll complete the portraits first, followed by ES goals and lastly TC&TF goals). In fact, this is also the reason I played BSC. Another reason I started these two series is that these series are gender selectable, which needless to say appeals to me. In fact, now I've decided I'll play any gender selectable series that comes my way, so that even if I find the series uninteresting, such as PTR, I can at least replay those series to stock up on diamonds. In fact, now that I've reached my target of 1000 diamonds, I plan to keep it around that number.

Anyway, which is better, Original or Class Act? Well, both trilogies have good points and not-so-good points, but they do have some similarities as well. such as both MCs being new kids at school, Book 2 being the best book of both trilogies, Book 1 and Book 3 having similar plotlines and both trilogies are equally long and can be completed in exactly a week (well, a week and a day actually, so it takes two weeks and two days to finish the entire franchise). So, how do the two trilogies compare? That's what I will be talking about in this blog. So, without further ado, let's begin.

High School Story: Original
So, almost immediately after the series starts, the conflicts start. Let's just say, Brian the Bully can be considered the Big Bad of the entire trilogy, because he's the most hated guy in the school, as his sister Sweet Skye says in Class Act, and he's basically Jordan's nemesis (I'll be referring to the MCs by their default names). First he makes out with his best friend's girlfriend, and that best friend, Caleb ends their friendship and becomes Jordan's love interest. Then, his new girlfriend Zoe dumps him and he goes after another girl, Myra. No wonder everyone hates him so much, he really is a convincing villain. As for Zoe, too bad Caleb doesn't want her back, and for a good reason: she's also an annoying bully, so I was taken aback when she actually marches up to Brian and tells him off near the end of the series (well, at least she's changed).

Then there's Max, the "King of Hearst", who's also a much hated bully like Brian. I think the main reason he acts entitled and thinks he should get his way is because his father happens to be the principal of his school, which is also why he calls himself the "King of Hearst". One of his favourite victims happens to be his sister Mia, no wonder she transferred to Berry High. His girlfriend Kara is just as mean as him. But then again, after I found out they were last years and that was their final chance to become prom king and queen, and since they have never won in the past, believe it or not, as much as I don't want to, I kind of felt sorry for them. What I hated most about them is how they tried to make the whole of Hearst turn against Berry by framing Jordan for sabotaging club tryouts, that really made me furious.

So, why is Book 2 the best book? That's because it's basically Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, just without the magic. I know some of you think Principal Isa, aka Berry's Umbridge, sabotaged the news footage so that she can take over the school, and I agree that it's highly likely. Even before she took over, we can see why she's Berry's Umbridge, the main reason being her highly demanding attitude. Once she takes over, we see just how tyrannical she can get: she recriuts "worthy" students to join her "hall monitor" squad, which turns out to be her inquisitorial squad, and causes several couples to break up, notably Frank/Payton and Wes/Autumn, and Caleb to be abandoned by his friends. What I hated most about her is how she sent Morgan to distract Aiden, cause an accident and get him into trouble with his parents, just so she can destroy his musical career (talking about Morgan, looks like she really loved being Isa's goon). Talking about Aiden, I was also angry with his parents for supporting Isa just because she's the principal, thankfully they realised their mistake in the end, after all you can't just believe whoever you think is right. As for the "troublemakers" (read: rebels), Umbridge basically will stop at nothing to take them down, especially Jordan, who she views as the Leader of the Rebellion, so the rebels are basically Lee's Army to her. According to what we discover in her office, her strategy is: remove the head of the Rebellion and she can rob the school penniless, as other students will fall in line after that. And to think she calls herself the best principal ever, in fact "Berry's Umbridge" is a better password for her computer.

As for other characters, while I kind of like Michael and Maria for being natural leaders, the LI I like most is Aiden, especially after Book 2, given that he went through so much trouble, I couldn't not be there for him (besides, I chose to be in the band). In fact, he's going to be my female MC's LI. As for my male MC, I don't know why I picked Maria, maybe because it's easy to romance her. I guess the reason I like her is how she warms up to Jordan as the story progresses, given that she's described as "scary" in Book 1. Finally there's Mia, the devs should have made her an LI, after all there are three male LIs and only two female ones (In fact, before I started playing, I thought she's an LI, but then I realised she isn't, Maria is). Besides, we have one LI in sports (Caleb) and one in the band (Aiden), but none in cheerleading, so if she were to be an LI, we would have one LI in each activity.

In conclusion, this series (I mean, just this trilogy) is something I've never expected for a school romance series, after all it sent a surge of adrenaline and emotions into fans. Given all this, my rating for this trilogy is...

EXCITING!

That's right, this trilogy is in the same league as most series I've played, which means it's recommended.

High School Story: Class Act
One thing I can agree on is that the storyline of this series is more related to real life, but that doesn't make this trilogy boring. In fact, as the story progresses, there still are events happening here and there. While Books 1 and 3 are all about performances (I guess this is where the series gets its name, after all we're in theatre class, and theatre class is all about acting), the reason Book 2 is the best is because, let's just say, it reminds me of Across the Void, just not so exciting. I understand that some players don't like having to take sides, and to be honest, so do I, and I thought we can play both Rory and Casey until election day. But no, we have to decide who we want to win by Chapter 7 by deciding who we want to help at the winter carnival, because after that there's no helping the other side until the end. Then there's Lorenzo, who made fans angry by commiting election fraud, and we have to decide who we want to win just so we can beat him. At least he apologised afterwards.

I understand why some, in fact probably most, of you chose Rory to become school president, since s/he's older and thus more capable. I think Casey can also be a capable president despite being a freshman like us, but the main reason I chose Casey to be school president is because Rory isn't my LI. When I saw some of you comment that Rory is a forced LI, I was wondering, why? A few chapters into Book 1 and I got my answer, and it's not only because Danielle was fighting with us over him/her (I was really furious when I found out she was behind the audition accident), but mainly because we've been cast to play Rory's LI, and this happened again in Book 3. I think the reason PB kept pushing us towards him/her is that s/he's our next door neighbour and childhood friend. Sigh, so basically, I chose Casey to be school president so that I wouldn't be stuck with Rory for the entire trilogy.

As for the other LIs, Skye and Ajay, now they stand out more, and give me a more compelling reason to romance them. First there's Sweet Skye, aka the sister of Brian the Bully. Class Act introduces the rest of the Crandall family, and you can bet how furious fans were when they found out Brian's entire family are monsters (save for Skye, that is). In fact, I was hoping we can tell Jordan about how badly they treated Skye and how they favoured obnoxious Brian over her, then we march up to the Crandalls' home and tell Brian's parents what a big bully Brian has been, but I bet they won't go down without a fight. In the end, we get the parents arrested and Brian expelled once and for all, and I could  hear their satisfying cry of "NOOOOOOO!!!" and everyone cheering: "Long live Jordan! Long live Jordan!", and Jordan would be remembered as the Hero of Berry High. But in the end, at least the parents apologised, and too bad we never got to see Brian's expulsion. As for Ajay, sure, he comes off as demanding in Book 1, but his family troubles from Book 2 onwards made me feel that I couldn't not be there for him.

In short, while not as good as the original trilogy, this trilogy is still worth replaying. And so, my rating for this trilogy is:

Meh

That's right, this series is one of the mediocre ones, which means it's decent.

Conclusion
All in all, the HSS franchise is one of the most memorable series for PB fans, after all it started with PB's first game. This franchise is highly recommended for beginners, so I suggest those new to Choices try it out. Needless to say, many fans are sad to see the franchise come to a close, and you bet we'll all miss this series.

Now I mentioned there are some good and bad points for both trilogies, and I'm going to list them in another blog tomorrow, so be sure to check out this next blog. That's all for now, until then, this is General Khor. The end, and thank you for reading.