Not as good as Harutoki 3
But still better than Harutoki 4.
While the content of the Special Edition was something which didn't disappoint, from the art books to drama CDs and Audition DVD, the game itself was worse than expected.
The graphics are beautiful, the best in the series yet, the new cast of CV's made their job fantastically.
But then there are the weak points.
The game is partly voiced, still more than in Harutoki4 but a lot less than in game 3. The main route (Yuki Monogatari) is way too long, the character routes were cut because of this and even in those routes, the story telling was partly highly repetitive of the neutral route.
While the casts work on the character voices was really great (just listen to Ernest's English or Amami simply speaking, it's a dream!) there could have been more. At least most of the dialogues in the character routes were voiced.
The secret characters were a very nice (and funny) bonus, even though some of them could have used more work on their personalities and even voices.
The battle system got another major revamp., were the battling team is being displayed as mere icons. This seems to be a new trend in portable RPGs but it's not to my liking. Returning to the style of Harutoki 3 would have been a better choice, since the 3D models of Harutoki 4 could have taken up too much space...which could have been used for more vocie acting!
I don't want to spoil the story for future gamers but my main complaint here is that the heroine Yuki is very unrealistic. She wants to save everything and everyone (much like Chihiro from H4, but with a more bearable personality) and has her eyes on ONLY ONE guy almost from the very beginning of the game. Because of this the individual routes sometimes seem kind of forced and sometimes unrealistic.
The Hachiyou, the main male cast of 8 protectors (with the Proestess of the Black Dragon as a bonus), are well developed and interesting for the most part. Ernest Satow is a whole new type of character for the series, Ryoma Sakamoto is absolutely charming, Komatsu Tatewaki, Okita Souji and Shinsaku Tagasuki are pretty interesting as they are deeply engaged in the politics of that time. Fukuchi Ouchi, while interesting and funny in the beginning, disappinted in his route, Chinami isn't even worth being called a Hachiyou and Shun Kiriyuu is a very unrealisting and unnerving character with his fanatic love for the main heroine, his hate for his own brother and lots of problems which are something he made up himself. Miyako was interesting while a little strange since she's a girl and behaving like a guy when it comes to getting Yuki "for herself". Amami. Sometimes his talking speed did become kind of a nuisance but there is a chance in the game to get to know him closer and these scenes were the best in the whole game.
All in all, this is a game you can play and will probably like if you didn't play HaruToki 3. It is better than the 4th game, has great art, interesting characters, and a historically in-depth main route. But beware, a lot of political jargon will await you.