History VisualNovel / AnOctaveHigher

It also has a Prequel, following the early life of Janis Woolfe, titled ''One Small Fire at a Time.''

* MusicalThemeNaming: The title contains a musical term (octave), many of the characters share names after famous composers, musicians or songs, and the city's name (Overture) is a reference to a musical term.

** Gesand - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesang_Martohartono Gesang Martohartono]]

* MusicalThemeNaming: The title contains a musical term (octave), many of the characters share names after famous composers, musicians or songs, and the city of Overture itself is a reference to a musical term.

Magic is a fact of life in the kingdom of Overture. Any person can cast magic, provided he or she has access to Mana, and every single machine depends on magic to function. It can be used for many things, from brewing tea to producing drinkable water for water fountains to treating people’s injuries. There is one thing it cannot do, however: healing magic cannot be used on inanimate objects. [[RedHeadedHero Franz]] knows this, and yet he must prove that it can be done if he is to defend his thesis and graduate from the prestigious Conservatoire. When an attempt to secure grant funding from an aristocrat’s son backfires, he finds himself in the right place at the right time to meet Elise, a cheerful factory worker who wants nothing more than to fix a broken piano lying out in the factory yard. And despite his initial skepticism, Franz soon becomes convinced that she holds the key to unlocking the mystery.

* WizardingSchool: The Conservatoire.

* NotQuiteFlight: Mages who are gifted with [[DishingOutDirt Willpower]], like Frederic, can [[GravityMaster Nullify gravity]] to send themselves or others rising high into the air. Similarly mages gifted with [[BlowYouAwa Faith]], like Franz, can create strong air currents to lift themselves off the ground.

* MultipleEndings: Six, though only five of them grant achievements on Steam. Three of them are fairly lighthearted, the other two... are not, to put it mildly. The common thread in all of them is that [[spoiler:Frederic is rescued from Libertad, and Franz fails to defend his thesis]].

** ''Why not?'': The true ending. [[spoiler:Elise does not join Libertad and goes to Lord Godwin and the police. Amadeus experts her treachery, however, and ambushes the police's ambush; when Elise tries to chase after him she is fatally wounded by Gesang, only for Frederic to sacrifice himself to save her life, an act which redeems him in her eyes. When Libertad and their army of proles storm the Conservatoire several days later to take Joff Godwin hostage, she breaks in, finds Aretha, and together they take down Jude and Gesang before convincing Amadeus to see the error of his ways. He tells his followers to stand down, telling them they don't need magic to live happy lives, [[SuicideByCop then tricks the cops into killing him by pretending to cast a powerful magic spell.]] As Elise, Jude and Aretha weep over his lifeless body, Elise tries to revive Amadeus using the same spell she'd been using to fix the piano, leaving it ambiguous as to whether or not she succeeded.]]

** ''So beautiful and lost'': [[spoiler:After a five-year TimeSkip, Elise joins Libertad. She is present when they attack the Conservatoire to take Joff Godwin hostage, and helps Aretha to escape from the campus. Frederic storms in to try and rescue his father, but is easily subdued. Amadeus then has Joff Godwin publicly executed; a week later the city is ravaged, the proles are growing dispirited, and there is talk of the king bringing in armies from other nations to restore order.]]

** ''Why not?'': The true ending. [[spoiler:Elise does not join Libertad and goes to Lord Godwin and the police. Amadeus experts her treachery, however, and ambushes the police's ambush; when Elise tries to chase after him she is fatally wounded by Gesang, only for Frederic to sacrifice himself to save her life, an act which redeems him in her eyes.]]

* ElementalPowers: Most magic takes the form of elemental spells that correspond to different personality Traits. They are:

* FictionalSport: Sorcer, a game played mainly by aristocrats.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Magic is treated as a science in its own right, and the Conservatoire has departments for both magical science and magical engineering. Magic spells are written out as pseudo-mathematical equations, and magic machines are described as magic systems, complete with flow charts and system diagrams.

* MagicAIsMagicA: Much time is spent explaining the rules of how magic works in the setting. Every person is born gifted with two out of five Traits (Courage, Willpower, Faith, Intelligence and Compassion), and those Traits determine what sort of magic they can use.

Magic is a fact of life in the kingdom of Overture. Any person can cast magic, provided he or she has access to Mana, and every single machine depends on magic to function. It can be used for many things, from brewing tea to producing drinkable water for water fountains to treating people’s injuries. There is one thing it cannot do, however: healing magic cannot be used on inanimate objects. Franz knows this, and yet he must prove that it can be done if he is to defend his thesis and graduate from the prestigious Conservatoire. When an attempt to secure grant funding from an aristocrat’s son backfires, he finds himself in the right place at the right time to meet Elise, a cheerful factory worker who wants nothing more than to fix a broken piano lying out in the factory yard. And despite his initial skepticism, Franz soon becomes convinced that she holds the key to unlocking the mystery.

* Magitek: Magic machines are everywhere in the city of Overture, and they all require magic to function. You can't even take a shower if you don't have Mana because the water that comes out is produced by magic.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Magic is treated as a science in its own right, and the Conservatoire has departments for both magical science and magical engineering.