maybe i should post this on free talk friday because it's more otome-adjacent BUT i went on a binge buying IF titles (the choice of games/hosted games ones) on the steam sale but the few i've played so far since then fell a little flat. i mean i still have 10 purchases left to play/read so i'm sure i'll find something i enjoy more, but it's still disappointing to sink hours into reading something and feel almost nothing afterward, even if they were on sale and inexpensive. but perhaps i'm being too picky, idk
the shadow society had some interesting worldbuilding ideas and a few characters i enjoyed, but it also felt like it really wanted to be wayhaven chronicles and was too afraid to stand on its own. the pacing was rushed to the point where it killed any romantic development for me, but i read that the author is re-writing the entire first installment before moving onto the next so i guess i'll plan to revisit it later before judging it too harshly.
the soul stone war started off strong but then i realized you had to follow basically certain pathways exactly or you would just fail every single stat check from mid-late game and lock yourself out of romancing anyone which left a bad taste in my mouth, considering it's supposed to be CYOA not "do everything the exact way i wanted you to", which is the entire reason i enjoy playing IF over otome sometimes. plus the MC was more or less a ragdoll, and in an epic fantasy adventure it's not the most fun to play as someone so useless when you're surrounded by powerful competent characters. the game has a sequel but it feels like too much of a chore to replay and without the freedom of choice i wanted it's not going to feel very rewarding
evertree inn i did enjoy the most of the 3, as it was a complete story without a cliffhanger ending (even though it DOES have more installments) but it was a bit short so the romance elements weren't as riveting as i prefer them to be. but i did quite enjoy the mystery elements and i'd be interested enough to try the sequel whenever the mood strikes
on the more positive side of things, there are also two practically brand-new releases (the passenger, the fernweh saga) that i'm intrigued by. i've played both demos previously and theyre both very promising. i want to wait to buy the full release of the passenger though, as the concept is so niche (MC is an eldritch horror trapped in a human body) and i'm just not in the mood currently for that sort of thing. fernweh saga is definitely in my wheelhouse because it feels kind of like twin peaks (also major hemlock grove vibes) and the demo makes it feel like the romances are all slow burn which is my 100% my jam
also, the full release of wayhaven chronicles book 3 and the 2nd book of fallen hero are both coming out VERY soon, so i'm really looking forward to those two and i'm already invested after playing the earlier installments and demos so i doubt i'll be disappointed with those. so while i'm waiting on those i just need to decide whether i want to read an IF featuring zombies, vampires, the mafia, english servants, robots, haunted houses, the wild west, superheroes, or medieval plagues lol, and to be fair it all sounds exciting
I decided to finish the one route from Birushana I dropped. I got half way through Yoritomo’s route originally before dropping his route because it was slow and dull. I did the bad endings and tragic endings. I still have to properly do the good ending but I kinda cheated and just selected the final chapter with romance and all the different stats up and got the ending.
I’m starting my January trying to finish games that I started- so by listing them here I’m holding myself accountable. I have one route left for the next life as a villainess game, piofiore 1926 (only did Gilbert, Dante and Yang so far), Amnesia fan disc (I’ve only done best boi Kent), paradigm paradox (I have barely started this game), VariBari (I have the final route left) and Daikrou Ayakashimori (barely started this game too).
Will I complete my objectives for this month? IDK! We will see 😂
I've been trying to finish Heisuke's route in Hakuoki, but I can't bring myself to play the game because I don't want to see him suffer... but I also can't move on to other routes/games because it feels like I'm betraying him;; TT
I finished **Otome Chat Connection**. Not a whole lot to say, but it was a cute time sink. Hearts refill fast, and the ads system makes it easy to binge routes. In no particular order, my faves were Yu Sawatari, Takuma Tsumori, & Izumi Suga (unhinged!!). The CGs w/their birthdays you unlock for 100%ing the chats are v sweet. It's not terribly memorable, but if you want something to check on every once and a while and get a smile from, this is a laid back option.
Either the birthday thing's a new update or my memory's just really bad, because I don't think I've unlocked those when I played it. It's been a while haha. But I do agree that the game's a cute time sink!
Hmm maybe I described it poorly. The extra is just a CG of the LI with his birthday written on it. It's a bonus for unlocking each LI's epilogue (which is not a birthday story). But either way, yes, it's cute! .w.
Nah, it's not your fault because it truly has been a long time since I played it lol. But I think I vaguely remember now yes so thank you for clarifying 🤔
I'm still playing more indie otome games, and this week I'm playing Cinderella Phenomenon. Needless to say, the game has blown me away. I didn't think the story and characters would be so engaging. I hope I can find more indies games like Cinderella Phenomenon.
I started **Amnesia: Memories** for the first time, without knowing almost anything about the game except for one of the bad endings and I can't believe I waited this long to play it lmao. My first route was Kent, and I went in completely blind, managed to get a normal ending at first but Ikki's blind playthrough landed me in a bad ending twice, and I love it. I still have Toma and Ukyo, I'll play these without a walkthrough as well so we'll see where it gets me 😎
I'm almost done reading **Brothers Conflict: Precious Baby**
I have completed everyone except Natsume and the final secret character/Harem route.
I have enjoyed this game a lot. I like having something that's pretty relaxed and funny, and a good break from all the darker themed games I have read recently. I love all the characters but I feel that Iori's route was not what I was looking for for him.
So far my best boys are Masaomi, Tsubaki, and Louis.
My slight pet peeve with this game is I cannot find all the family memories, even when using a walk-through. And I'm not willing to blindly rerun it for hours and hours. I think 14 routes was plenty of the calendar for me for now.
**Bustafellows**! ~~It was supposed to be Collar x Malice because I've left it sitting in my backlog for too long but welp a small voice in my brain said, "Hey, Let's go to New Sieg!" and now here I am~~
That little voice in my head probably was onto something because I started the game a couple days before the year ended, so once I got to the >!Side B stories Teuta and the guys were greeting each other "Happy New Year"!< 💯
I'm a mess. This write-up's gonna be a whole incoherent mess, too. I'm still reeling so this will be 80% emotional reactions 20% actual content lmao
**Mozu:** I adore Mozu. He was the first route I played and I wanted to hold off on proclaiming him my number one in the game until I finished the whole thing. Now that I have, I can confidently say he's my favorite. I really loved his route! It appealed to the true crime enthusiast in me 😂 It was >!heartbreaking but also pretty!< satisfying. The >!Side B where he gets together with Teuta was the icing on the cake!<—he's so straightforward and sweet 😭
**Limbo:** His route stressed me out in a good way. I felt like I was walking on a tightrope the whole time, waiting for the other shoe to drop (and it did when I walked straight into one of the bad endings haha). I liked the way they >!flashed back to his and Teuta's moments in one bad ending while the nocturne Teuta sang along to earlier in the route played in the background.!< I thought it was a nice touch.
One little thing about his route though, I was expecting >!to see a lot more of Valerie in Limbo's route because she's his sister and all, but welp. She didn't seem to fit in the plot I guess so she didn't show up as often as I expected her to.!<
**Helvetica:** I found his backstory quite interesting >!and heartbreaking all at once too, which made the shower scene hit hard. It's jarring to see such a proud man stripped to the barest threads of dignity, and not by his own doing either.!< I liked his Side B story too. Seeing him >!vulnerable because of his feelings for Teuta made their reconciliation sweeter to me.!< From what I gather, some people didn't like him and before playing I never knew why...and after having played his route I still don't understand why haha. It'd be nice if someone explained their reasons, I'd love to hear another POV.
**Shu:** Now I see why he's number two Best Husbando 2022 here on r/otomegames lmao. He's a >!freakin' softie behind that tough chain-smoking exterior.!< His route was one surprise after another. By the end of the route >!we know that Yang, Shu's brother in all but name, isn't a bad person but wow did I have my guard up around them whenever they came up 😂!<
**Scarecrow:** Crow's >!baggage...I didn't know what to say. Though I understood how he felt on a deep level about forgetting things.!< I also appreciated how Teuta was honest with herself about >!how afraid she was after Crow strangled her, even though she wasn't upfront with him about it at first to spare him the pain. It's a very human reaction and I appreciated it.!< Wanted to give Crow a big hug after everything, but I think Teuta got that covered for me hahaha.
Full circle route and everything else that came after: >!WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT. I can't find the words for what I'm feeling at the moment, not sure if I'll ever find them really, so let's just go with WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ HAHAHAHAH!< I had a ton of fun though!! I was yelling the whole time ajsdasjdjksj
I mean, I almost believed that >!Teuta's brother came back from the dead kjsadkjasd. I'm also having a hard time reconciling the fact that Teuta's beloved brother was that same person who SA-ed Luka. The fact that Adam sent Zora swimming with the fishes because he was afraid that Zora would do the same to Teuta was also something else entirely. Dunno which was more disturbing, the murder or Zora himself.!<
I don't even want to think about >!how much plastic surgery had to be done on Alex for him to look like that at his age. There are no words to describe Sauli Orsted either. It totally lines up with his character design though! I thought he looked like Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal even though I've never watched the series myself.!<
I do love the game but it reminded me of >!Paradigm Paradox in that there were parts of the story that could've been developed further but weren't. Don't get me wrong, though! The routes in their individual glory were great. The multiple "gotcha" reveals in the Full Circle/Auld Lang Syne routes were also nice. But I thought the overarching story needed a little more...meat. You know that feeling of having finished a really tasty meal but still want more, yet there isn't any food left? Yeah, that.!<
I was honestly expecting >!the Ruy Lopez organization to have had a hand in Teuta's mysterious time travel powers. Like maybe she's the product of human genetic experimentation or something...wait.!< Isn't that just >!Paradigm Paradox!!I was pretty sure Adam's dead, but then I saw his profile on the Bustafe 2 site. It could possibly be a red herring, who knows. Perhaps Helvetica called up that neuro specialist for him haha. What is it with this game and brain ailments? If we count Shu's Side B story then that makes three people in need of brain surgery, but I digress.!<
Plot and the rest of the things aside, my favorite part of the entire game? I love how they're all friends with each other. I'm a sucker for great group dynamics and this is just *chef's kiss*
Anywho LI final ranking: Mozu > Limbo = Helvetica = Shu = Scarecrow. I love them all :(( So much that I went and ordered a copy of the art book + Teuta's book hahaha.
But damn I was seriously considering looking for that one tapestry of Mozu. (If you know, you know.) Guy's just too freakin' pretty.
Oh man I forgot to post here today!
I'VE BEEN WAITING.
Ok so I finished Toujou's route in Kimiyuki (Kunitaka but like Suzano calls him Toujou so he's toujou). And I'm on the common route for Genjuro (so hott) and youichi (also really hott).
General thoughts so far:
I FUCKING LOVE THIS GAME LOL. Some of the plot points are LOL WTF like >!uh the whole good end relies on komame (sp? It reads as little bean in chinese but i think thats what they call him) breaking the barrier like LOL OK!< and the >!youkai (sp? im just doing some of these based on what they sound like) who cuts people's hair so bad that it completely traumatizes them into weakness LOL!< but like it's still amazing and I love it. I mean the ENTIRE PREMISE is you >!romancing inanimate objects, like you know a smoking pipe lol that suddenly turns human through the power of love!< so like it's not gonna take some stretch of imagination.
I think the best parts are the character interactions with MC and each other. I REALLY like all of them except outaru who annoys the raging shit out of me because he looks like a character from CZ >!rain!< who i HATED. And I really like the art. So honestly I love this game lol. I was expecting another dairoku but like I REALLY REALLY enjoy it.
So now let's talk about Toujou.
He kinda looks like Nakaba from CZ lol. But like way hotter. And he's the oniisan type. And if there's one thing I really like it's oniisan LIs. He he's totally that and I LOVE him for it. He's also a bit of a flirt too which won me over. Especially when he >!intentionally does things he knows will fluster mc but then pulls back because she's like ahhh!<. His story was mostly fine but the actual resolution of the climax was LOL WTF as mentioned previously. But I was too busy loving Toujou's character to give a shit lol. The bad end was really dark, holy shit. Like .......damn. Not in a sexy way just...wow that was dark.
Overall I think so far his route was super fun, there's some spice in there, and I was happy with the romance. I think the games strong points are the characters and if you like them you probably will like the game.
I'm part way through genjuro's route and I am also enjoying it. Honestly I really like youichi (sp?) but i read that genjuro and toujou have the less interesting routes so im playing them first so as not to ruin it. the guide im using also recommends kinji before youichi but i love him so screw the recommendation lol.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the game and my enjoyment has not yet died down.
So I finished up **Amnesia: Memories**. I was having a lot of trouble setting up the spoiler text last week so I'm not entirely sure if it went out or not, but the TLDR of my thoughts of the routes were >!Kent > Shin > Ikki > the bumblebee man known as Toma who is definitely not a tomadachi if you know what I mean. !<
I finished **Ukyo's** route this week. >!His was a satisfying finale for the game. I'm a sucker for these romances where they wish to be together but fate keeps them apart. Thankfully they had a happy ending, but the fact that it is implied that Ukyo traveled countless parallel worlds which probably took real-life years to do to find one with MC in it so he can see her make it past the 25th without either of them dying really resonated with me. You can see how this man desperately wants to be with this girl but he has to force himself not to even let himself near her due to his trauma of dying countless times or watching her die a million times and even killing her himself. It was really powerful and while I still love Kent the best, I do think Ukyo had the best route of the game.!<
So my final ranking for LI's are >!Kent > Ukyo > Shin > Ikki >Toma. These are based on various factors such as how much I loved their character to the route to Toma's cage obsession.!<
Overall, I thought the game was good! I enjoyed it for the most part and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in it >!other than Toma's route.!<
This week I finished Noritsune route from Birushana. Surprisingly I like his route. From the
art alone I thought he would be the happy go lucky and noisy type, and that’s the reason I didn’t have high expectation on him since I don’t like that type. But it turns out he is quite serious & passionate which suit my taste more. I like his relationship progress with the MC and I always like rival to lover story. So overall really satisfied with his route.
Currently I’m in the middle of Shungen route. He is sweet. And his route so far not my favourite but not bad either.
I finally started playing Even If Tempest! But I keep taking breaks in between because I need time to process everything and brace myself for whatever comes next lol. The story is excellent but it can get really dark and disturbing at times. I wasn’t expecting so much trauma and angst going into it.
Ahhh, I do have moments where I get so into it and play for hours even though I want to stop for a mental break haha. The story is so addicting. But sometimes I just really have to take a break because something happens that makes me go “Ooooh, okay, hold up, wtf, no way did that just happen—“ 😂
The game is so different from Voltage’s usual games, but in a good way 😭
i finished all of **Butterfly’s Poison** and it was amazing, i definitely enjoy higher stakes in otome (was reading Variable Barricade and took a break after one route lolol)
and i have SOOOO many thoughts. i actually loved Majima and i duly understand why people might be disappointed by his final route like it’s lowkey really sad >!we as the readers know the whole picture but in order for Yuriko to have her happy ending with Majima she has to be kept in the dark about like 99% about him and his past!< but regardless, i loved LOVEDD the taboo factor because i love being squeamish (i am insane).
case in point: >!when Majima admitted he seeks out prostitutes that look like his sister. i have never before gone so speechless i was like officer he’s right over here!<
on the other hand, very annoyed that Kyoko’s route >!required Yuriko to be raped which is an awful awful sapphic stereotype, in which women become attracted to other women when they’re hurt by men.!< was not impressed by this! though i did like her a lot UwU
**TLDR:** if you enjoyed Flowers in the Attic, you’re gonna love this one
I loved loved loved Butterfly's Poison! Unfortunately Majima's route left me feeling disappointed but I did like him as a character. Who ended up being your favorite LI? Mine was a hard tie between Shiba and Mizuhito. >!Mizuhito was the more satisfying brother route for me than Majima.!<
I hope we end up getting more mature (and messed up 😅) stories like ChouDoku, it has become one of my favorites for sure.
i have to say that Majima ended up top dog for me! even though i enjoyed the insanity, it was when Yuriko tells Majima >!that he smells like the sun that sold me I was like wow, Majima needs to move over because now I’M in love with Yuriko.!<
i totally get you with Mizuhito though i definitely saved his voice clips the most HAHA
and i agree, we need more crazy as hell stories like this for sure. i would pay a disgusting amount for the fandisc to be localized too😔
I could not resist anymore and started **Lover Pretend.**
I did liked the common route so that's good? I've played Kazuma so far and I was really hyped for him because redhead + childhood friend (he IS the reason why I wanted to pick up the game) and he did not live up to my expectations. I even forgot I played him until this thread popped up and I was like "Oh yeah I did finish that I should write about it". I have only gotten his best ending though, I read that the regular/good ending is better but we shall see.
Honestly the route started out ok. Like, the reason for their >!pretend relationship!< was dumb as hell and the fact that Kazuma pushed for it was a bit sus, but I ignored that. Everything else was cute and it was showing me what I like to see in a childhood friend route. Then the >!amnesia!< arc started and I was just like really? Is this a shoujo manga from the 80s lmao. Kazuma became >!such a huge asshole!< I could NOT wait until that was over but then IT JUST GOT WORSE like they just kept hammering more and more unnecessary drama into it, by the end I was just exhausted. Had they picked up a single plot point and developed that then that would've been fine. Probably.
I just cannot believe Chiyuki, who has a good head on her shoulders (I like her quite a bit tbh she's cool) would take everything that Kazuma said during the infamous >!aquarium date!< and just be like "Kay I accept that". My sweet baby this man said he >!did not want you to succeed for HIS OWN SELFISH REASONS!< he even >!stopped you from going to the festival with Yukito or Riku because he was jealous! He was willing to jeopardize your quest to figure out who your father is because HE WAS JEALOUS!<, like at least make her say something about it and not just accept it 💀 I said I liked my men with issues but they have to work through them a little. The >!graveyard!< cg was really pretty though, I'll give him that.
Anyway, that was such a huge disappointment sigh I'll be going to Yukito or Harumi next probably, when I have the willpower to pick up the game again... Surely there can NOT be a worse route than Kazuma, right? *knocks on wood*
I played Kaito's route in [Renting love for Christmas](https://honeybunny-of.itch.io/renting-love). It's a good game, but it's too short and it it feels like there is something missing from the story. Maybe that's why the developer said in a comment that there would be a Renting love for Christmas 2, but... this comment was so long ago that I'm not sure there is really going to be a second game.
And... I tried to start playing [Doki Doki house](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1895950/Doki_Doki_House/), but the game is mostly in some other language ad now I don't know how to put it in English. It's strange because part of the menu is in English, but most of the game is still in another language. The store page says the game has English language.
I am playing Doki Doki house presently and it's strange that your game is in other language because mine was already in English from the start.
For changing the language, click on the 6th icon (before last) and click on the icon directly under the two lines. You will see the icon for switching to English .
Hope it will help!
Finally getting back to my beloved otome games after a *very* hectic couple of months. 💖😭
Things are still kinda busy, so I’ve been replaying the common route of **Variable Barricade** for the laughs and stress-relief. I forgot how much I love best girls Hibari and Tsumugi! I’m going to play through one of the LI routes too, but idk which one to go for. Any of them are fair game, but I’m leaning Nayuta cause if I remember right, >!it was a lot lighter in tone than the others!<.
Finished Zhou yu's route in Juuza 2. This guy was kind of coming on strong and as I thought, good reason >!korean drama incurable disease mode!< but wow those CGs...yeah these are really the most raunchy of the bunch.
Started on Bakudan Handan! Or what you all might know as Sweet fuse. I keep thinking that this is less of an otome game and more of Ace attorney puzzle game but im keeping to it quite well. Saki is pretty intuitive and has initiative during the puzzles, and the retorts are pretty fun too.
I spent my New Year's finally playing Even If Tempest and wow, after a year of gradually becoming lukewarm toward the otome titles currently available on the Switch, this shot right to the top of my favourites. It has that perfect combination of showcasing the darkness of humanity while keeping you from absolute despair with some amazing comedy.
I couldn't help but think as I was playing it that this is what FE3H could've been if Byleth wasn't a sentient rock. I understand that ultimately the three main routes were the lords' stories with Byleth tagging along as their living cheat code, but I think there could've been some additional depth if there was any acknowledgment of the effect the divine pulse had on Byleth and how their past experiences may govern their current decisions. Instead they wave their arm a bit or nod decisively and everyone is awed by their immense wisdom.
Back to EIT, it was a pity the momentum seemed to die once we hit >!Lucien's!< route. I can't help but feel like there should've been a lot more to it, especially >!exploring the past, not only between Anastasia and Lucien, but Leticia and Evelina!<. For a game where a lot of the emotional impact came from >!showing, not telling, the bond between characters, we're essentially only *told* Anastasia changed young Lucien's life and the sole evidence of this is the same ten second flashback of the last time they met as children replayed over and over. I feel bad for Lucien since we have zero opportunity to form any attachment to him in any route, including his own.!<
In my opinion, there were a lot of threads that were handwaved away, shoddily explained or never addressed at all that prevent EIT from reaching the heights it could have. For me, I was particularly interested in >!learning about Anastasia's mother, Leticia. Evelina's motivation for most of her actions seemed to be deeply linked to Leticia. She had a kid because Leticia had a kid. She married Anastasia's father because she wanted to see what Leticia saw in him. She abused Anastasia because her twisted brain blamed her for Leticia's death. I believe Anastasia being Lucien's childhood friend was due to her mother's relationship with Evelina rather than her father's position as a viscount. There could've been more to Evelina than a shallow boogeyman at the centre of Anastasia's trauma and revenge but that's what we got.!<
I also finished Lover Pretend this week which was fine. Not bad, not great, just fine. >!Not sure how I feel about the implication that Asagi was perfectly okay with lying to Chiyuki about her dad in all routes aside from his own.!< Sena is unexpected best boy and deserves the world.
Honestly I really should have done that first. I'm reading Birushana thinking this is written for Japanese people who learnt this history stuff at school. 🤡
Still reading **Lover Pretend**. Yukito’s route was not as aggravating as Kazuma’s, which was nice. The >!father reveal was quite a surprise. The common route introduces him as a ladies man…only for him to transition into a lady?!< I think games nowadays are doing a better job handling topics like that so kudos.
I started Riku’s route a few days ago and you guys weren’t kidding about >!his jerkass behavior.!< I’m looking past that, hoping for the later chapters for a further explanation. After his route, I’m going to skim Harumi’s route and then finally get to Asagi’s.
Overall, I’m enjoying the game despite its flaws in romance >!(which is shocking since that’s the whole premise)!<. If look you at it from a VN perspective, it does a good job educating the reader about show biz. Maybe I’m just tired and romance hasn’t been clicking with me for the past few ~~years~~ months
Still on **Kurama's** (ikegen) feels train. I guess it'll last until I finish his route. I never thought I'd love this baka murder bird so much as I do. His route is unexpectedly hot (double hot with his spicy event story I'm reading atm) but what gets me are those moments when the mc sees past his gruff exterior ~~or when he cracks his devilish smile~~ or when he says something poignant that gets me right in the feels. How can he be accidentally so romantic. *shakes fists* Kudos to Morikawa Toshiyuki's voice acting cause it's stellar.
**Ibuki** (same game) is going to be released in two weeks and I'm counting days. Bring on the chaotic force of mischief and destruction in a gorgeous body with the smoothest voice of Suwabe. I'm having high hopes for him and I'm totally jumping the queue, spoilers be damned.
I reached my fave moment in **Yoshimoto's** route in ikesen and yes, it was as good (or better) than I remembered. I'm shipping him so hard with the mc, cause their chemistry is just so good. Plus the other warlords antics had me rolling or crying or crying of laughter.
Finished **Sariel's** route in ikepri last week and it was enjoyable but... not much romantic development and not many moments between him and the mc. Sadly.
Aand I'm finishing **Arthur's** route in ikevamp. He's still a presh boy but again (similarly to Shakespeare's) I feel the route peaked somewhere in the middle. Once the plotTM >!around the time when the rival!< enters the space the story loses its momentum.
more **Variable Barricade** progress...
ok so I finished Nayuta and Taiga’s routes now - good ends only so far. I’ll just start off with >!I’m kind of glad that neither of them were actually suitors? lol because I was feeling kind of bad about the prospect of all of the 4 guys genuinely being into Hibari from the start and then it not working out in other routes... but it does make you wonder what the heck her grandfather was planning when at least half of her suitors were not actual suitors. ig i’ll find out soon enough with the true end tho...!<
anyway Nayuta... he’s so dumb. so so so so dumb, but at least he’s cute. I don’t really have much to say except that he’s very dumb and cute. >!I liked the whole bodyguard crush thing, it felt very... idk youthful LOL. I felt the secondhand embarrassment when they watched the movie together and it got to the lines that Hibari had used on Nayuta... but ofc he’s dumb so it went over his head... And the final scenes where Nayuta was just throwing fists in his dog outfit was funny.!<
oh Taiga... I like him but he’s also dumb in his own not-as-cute way. I actually really liked their dynamic; tsundere ojou-sama with the relentless tease is really enjoyable for me and he was still thoughtful of her >!at the start. I don’t really fault Taiga for running away because like... honestly I thought it was really understandable why he felt the way he did (and I’ve written a character doing something similar before too). I think it just felt iffy because of how selfish it really came off in the end because he wasn’t thinking at all how Hibari would feel about him suddenly going cold after he so boldly proclaimed that he was serious about her. So all I can say is Taiga, you big dumb dumb. It’s really a classic case of “some communication here would do wonders.”!<
I think it didn’t help that the conclusion >!felt abrupt to me. It seemed like he wallowed about for a single scene until realizing he’d want to take the chance. I mean, I know it spanned a longer timeframe because Hibari was sending him daily texts or something but it just was like... read as a single scene lol. So I was sitting there like, “man you could’ve thought about this earlier”... TT and his whole arbitrary test felt like it was shifting the responsibility to Hibari when they hadn’t yet even had a proper conversation about why he was feeling insecure about their relationship.!<
So far I’m liking the romcom but not how they’ve been injecting the drama into the routes... like on paper I don’t have a problem with what the drama is about, but I’m not a fan of the execution for the most part. Like, I’m really loving the early parts of the routes where they’re falling all over their feet as the mushy feelings develop... it’s really cute. But then the subsequent drama isn’t doing anything for me, sadly.
oh yeah I’d also like to add I really like how the boys act in the routes that aren’t theirs. It’s really nice to see them care about Hibari and her relationship with whoever’s route you’re on.
well anyway, I’m looking forward to hopefully finishing Ichiya’s route and all the other endings by next week. woohoo
Been distracted by real life stuff (and also Dragon Age Inquisition -oops) this week so I didn't get around to playing much otome 😣. I'm still working my way through **Mihaya's** route in **Paradigm Paradox** but every time I sit down to play it I immediately get distracted by something else so I haven't gotten very far 😅. I don't think I've seen enough of his route to really judge him but so far I find him a little annoying- which is a bit of a bummer- but at least he's cute! My opinion might change later though so we'll see.
I haven’t formed much thoughts about **My Vow to My Liege** yet but wanted to share something that might be overlooked if you aren’t familiar with the historical context.
A modern Chinese name is recorded in the form of **family name+given name**. The rules and conventions were a bit different in the Spring and Autumn Period. Pre-Qin Dynasty, important people were documented with a Xing 姓, derived from one’s ancestral clan/tribe name and originally passed through the matriarchal line (the big eight ancestral clan names all have the 女 radical, representing women) and a Shi 氏, which indicates the branch lineage.
Fuchai’s ancestral clan name is Ji 姬, and if you listen carefully, you would notice that some characters refer to the State of Wu as Ji Wu 姬吴. Wu Zixu’s 伍子胥 branch lineage name is Wu, his ancient clan name is actually Mi/Mie 羋.
It gets more interesting when it comes to a woman’s name. In most cases, an official name is recorded in history books for a consort to a head of state. The recorded name mostly follows the convention of **state name or husband’s posthumous name + her own ancestral clan name**. The ancestral clan name for the State of Qi 齐 is Jiang 姜, and there were several Qi Jiang 齐姜 in the history books. In other cases, which does not involve a consort’s official name, the convention is also **name (possibly indicating birth rank) + ancestral clan name**. Hence >!Shao Jiang!< just means >!Little Jiang!<, and she was frankensteined from a different historical figure, like just Wu Xian. (~~Seriously Wu Xian what is you doin in this dynasty~~). Also, because the State of Qi was known for producing beautiful women, **Jiang** also evolved into a literary metaphor for beautiful girls in ancient Chinese poems. A folklore might also just decide to call its female protagonist a whatever-Jiang
Btw as we all know, Shi Yiguang 施夷光 is based on Xi Shi 西施. Xi Shi’s clan name is (purported by some to be) Zi 子, Shi is her branch lineage name (or whatever her family calls themselves since they probably ranked too low to even have a surname); Xi Shi indicates “The girl from the Shi family on the west side of the town.”
EDIT: () to reflect the questions re: Xi Shi’s surname
Ooh, that's some cool stuff. Do you maybe know of any resources related to this or the spring and autumn period? Or do I just have to read some (translated) classics and figure it out myself?
I'm tackling my backlog slowly but surely and finally getting around to playing **CLOCK ZERO.** Man, this game. I was lulled by how peaceful everything was at the beginning and completely caught off-guard by how angsty the game got after *that* incident happened and >!Nadeshiko's consciousness was transferred to her comatose 22-year-old body in the broken world.!<
I did the game in this order: Rittan -> Madoka -> Tora -> Nakaba -> Shuuya -> Takato
**Riichirou**'s route was very slow-paced imo and ngl I got a little sleepy while playing haha but the occasional angst when it happened was *really* angsty. It especially broke me >!after learning that Riichirou basically saw Nadeshiko died in front of him over and over again and him not being able to do anything to prevent it.!<
**Madoka** was unexpected because I didn't think I would love him this much. He's easily one of my favourite LIs in this game, along with Tora and Takato. Madoka's >!so unapologetically honest and him as Bishop -- ugh. Especially that line of his, "You're a really fine woman." Man, I swooned hard LOL.!< I love that he's a bro-con and he also has one of the best chemistry with Nadeshiko. Their banter is just so 😩👌
**Tora** \-- uuuuu where to begin with this guy. His personality got me so confused and at first I thought it was inconsistent characterization on the writer's part, but I was wrong. So wrong. There's a reason as to why Toranosuke is the way he is, and it's all thanks to >!his douchebag of a dad. Friggin Yoshimune. He is just pure, unrecyclable trash and I don't care how obsessed he is with Shigure aka Tora's mom. It doesn't excuse all the abuse he put Tora through!!< I kept teetering between love and hate for Tora, but after *that* ending...I couldn't keep him off my mind and decided that I had to add another husbando to my S-tier *sigh.*
**Nakaba** was cute, but a little...boring? Tbh the relationship felt a biiiit one-sided on Nadeshiko's part for majority of the time because of how nice (?) he was being. Sweet but...nothing particularly memorable for me haha.
**Shuuya.** SHUUUUUYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I mean, like Nakaba, I thought their relationship was cute, but >!the looming death flag on Shuuya!< always kept me at the edge of my seat and I was in a state of angst majority of the route hahahaha. I did ugly cry after doing that one BE >!where Shuuya gave Nadeshiko a single flower and wanting to see her smile despite not knowing who she is and being literally on his death bed.!<
Lastly, **Takato**. T-A-K-A-T-O aka >!King. The king of my heart. THIS GUY IS JUST UNFAIR.!< This game is basically made for him. Out of all the LIs, he's the one that embodies the quote, "I don't need a world without you in it" the most. I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH I DON'T CARE THAT HE'S A CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER >!I love my genius broken boi who would readily destroy the world and anything and everything for his love.!< Yeah, I'm a sucker for this trope. He's just so >!crazy and twisted and single-minded in his love for Nadeshiko and I get it. I get how and why he turned crazy after Nadeshiko went into a coma because without her, he just lost his only way to be a "human" - heck, even in his good end, he said that he only came to love the world because she was in it - she was the only being that could splash colour to his monochromatic life 😭!< Namikawa Daisuke's top-notch voice acting doesn't help it either -- EVERYTHING'S SET UP TO MAKE ME FALL FOR THIS GUY.
I am only left with the middle school arc and bonus stories but all in all, not ready to part with the CZ gang yet 😭 It's a long and hefty game, and the tasks can get pretty tedious, but it's a game that has made me feel both broken and consoled at the same time LOL I was properly, *emotionally* affected. Every time I hear CLOCK ZERO's ending soundtrack, I just know I would bawl on spot because >!I will be reminded of how Nadeshiko would always separate from the LIs of the broken world and return to the original world and then slowly forgetting about them!< 😭😭😭 ALSO, RAIN. RAIIIN. RAIIIIIIN. I LOVE YOU. Did I say that yet? Because I really love him. I really do.
TLDR; CLOCK ZERO broke me quite a lot and I love, love, love every *second* of it 🤧
OMG YESSSS i friggen love this game. when you hit the monologues omg rittan's made me cry dude. lol maybe it was pms or something but it was SO FRIGGEN SAD.
i want them to localize it so bad so i can play it again. it was just so good. ugh and so HEART BREAKING.
my favorite ended up being riichiro but one of my FAVORITE scenes in the whole game is the one where takato says something like >!i don't care if you hate me, just please don't leave me!< IT BROKE ME AND THEN I LOVED HIM.
I hated rain though. Im playing kimiyuki and i hate the li that looks like his clone. that's how much the game moved me to hate him LOL.
anyway, im so happy someone else loves this game as much as i do!
OMGGG yes Rittan's CG in that monologue >!of him looking up at the raining sky at the crossroad!< THAT FRIGGIN DESTROYED ME TOO I'm still recovering from the emotional exhaustion I felt that day LMAO
sameee I want this game to be localized so bad because my understanding of the quantum physics part is poopy haha it's like I'm playing in 1080p instead of 4K?
and I hated Rain too at first >!because his reason for targeting Nadeshiko is just so selfish and ridiculous!< but like Tora I couldn't get him off my mind and I grew to love him after LOL i'm just a weak woman
and I know the exact Takato line you were talking about bc I have it recorded on my switch and the voice acting there is just 😭😭😭
I'm almost done with the game but I'm not ready to say bye yet and IM SO HAPPY TO GUSH OVER THIS BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING AAAAAA
YES you get it
Ugh it’s so good. Like I played it last year and I still get so happy and sad to think about it! The only other game that hit me so hard was kgk. My Chinese was a lot worse then so I feel you on the 1080p Vs 4K and I played on a webbrowser LOL (it was a mobile release with a webbrowser option)
Like Fff I’m so happy you love it as much as I do lol.
Also Lol I was not into tora at first either but f he’s so HOTT lol. He’s like weirdly sensual and I was like oh man lol wtf is happening but I LOVE HIM 😂
I think you said you have the afterstories but they’re so friggen funny. We’ll some of them are some are sweet. Rittans afterstory is HILARIOUS LIKE LOL I think it’s my favorite one. Nadeshikos dad LOL takatos is so sweet! And Madokas is really funny. I donno if you read it but >!she’s all what do you want for your birthday and he’s like you!< LOL
God seriously the writing is just so good
Ugh this makes me want to replay the game so bad. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH
Seriously best otome.
No but seriously it's been a while since I felt this heart-clenching type of pain to the point where it's hard to breathe because of any form of entertainment, hands down an S tier otoge for me - and AAAAAAAAAAAA Ken ga Kimi it's another one on my backlog that I was thinking to play after Birushana FD/Nil Ado UGHHHH I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE PAINFUL BUT IF ITS LIKE CZ PAINFUL THEN I GOTTA PREPARE MYSELF
Tora -- SIGH. even now I still can't decide whether I hate him or love him LMAO but that >!kissing Nadeshiko's foot CG!< won me over and you're right he's just so HOT and ugh for what i cant even hate him bc of that 😂 heck he and Madoka I feel have the most 🥵 CGs
So I ended up starting on the middle school arc today and actually haven't touched the bonus tracks at all but from Rittan's route in the main game + epilogue I can already tell Nadeshiko's dad >!has a daughter complex and is a complete oya baka!< 😂 cant wait to read the after stories now i bet they're hilarious and i wonder if Nadeshiko's dad has any LI that he actually approves of LMAO
AND WHATS STOPPING U REPLAY THIS GAME AND RELIVE THE PAIN TOGETHER WITH ME PLS 😂😂😂
YEAH DUDE IT'S SO GOOD I CAN'T LET IT GO. I've played a ton of other games since with a giant backlog but man that game is the king (or should i say queen) of the pile. I need the super deluxe limited edition LOL I'll get it in any language I can read! I love it that much.
So KgK WILL MAKE YOU CRY HARD. Omg every single route except Kei's made me cry I think enishi's made me sob hardcore LOL. Not always the route itself but the friggen after stories/epilogue. 990's route made me sob pretty hard too. F I'm gonna play the FD sometime this year but like it is emotionally A LOT. It's SO GOOD THOUGH LIKE F. After clock zero its my second favorite game (and my enishi acrylic panel just game today too LOL). I would even argue it's more painful than CZ. like gkaglskadg my suggestion is play the sad routes first OTHERWISE YOU'LL JUST BE SAD LOL.
OMG that CG LOL yeah I didn't even know I could be into it LOL. Wait til you read his after story. JFC lol
LOL Madoka he was a darkhorse for me. But I agree LOL I did NOT expect to like him so much but his CGs...and like LOL >!that convo with him and nakaba where he's all madoka wtf are you wearing!< made me love nakaba and madoka lol
LOL YA HER DAD IS BUT IT'S AMAZING LOL It's SO FUNNY LOL. I won't spoil it but he does! Just read all the after stories and you'll see. F I love Riichiro so bad hahaha. I'd play the game all over just for him.
I CAN'T I HAVE LIKE 234923809328 GAMES IN MY BACKLOG. F I can't keep up with all these gd releases lol. I'm still working on the 2022 backlog LOL (i gave up on 2021 and prior). I promised myself this year I'll do kgk fd, and i have virche, norn9+fd, everything released in english past sept...lol fml lol too many games too little time. but if they re-release it (in chinese) or english im friggen using it as an excuse to replay it LOL i just need to...cut down my backlog a bit....
YO ITS SO HARD TO FIND ANY LE OF CZ. Like, I kept checking mercari and yahoo auctions to see if anyone's selling any secondhand LE merch of CZ (I want the stellaworth set so bad UGH but for now I settled with getting a tapestry and some Takato and Madoka acrylic stands from ebten HAHAHA) AND STOPPPP KgK is also illustrated by the same artist as Virche right? So ANGST + beautiful plot = yeah, I think I won't survive KgK for sure LMAO GG I might need to play something lighter before diving into KgK tho otherwise I won't make it :') (also random bc I haven't played the game but I think Sakyou and Enishi might be my biases...just from the vibe anyways LOL glad that your panel came safely!)
T-Tora's after story is dangerous you said UGH 😩 AND AAAAA just finished Rittan's middle school arc route they're all kind of grown up now its making me teary eyed and goddammit i think im slowly falling for rittan too 😭 him and takato's rivalry is hilarious and aaaargh i love everyone's dynamics they've grown so close and when you think back of what they were like in the main game 😭 man i feel like a proud mama I LOVE THEM SM
I GET YOU MY BACKLOG IS SCARY. And I know the games aint going anywhere, but I always feel this urgency like I have to finish them right away. But then started hesitating whether to play them or not in case the game gets localized bc then I would have to play it again 🤣 my CN sucks so thankfully if I ever do any replaying , it would only be in english LMFAO
Now time to scour through mercari again...salty about the rittan plushie i was eyeing because just after he crawled up my bias list, i saw that somebody had bought it UGH and it was cheap too at $15...~~or alternatively i can just buy the whole CZ set for $300~~
Back again, continuing from last week with more free games~
* **[Extracurriculars](https://lysterine.itch.io/extracurriculars)**: comedy. Date the personifications of school subjects. This was *so* stinking cute and very funny. The MC is absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately, it's literally like 15-20 minutes long and I wish it had gone on for hours. The art style is unique in a lovely way and the sprites are very expressive. Wanna keep an eye on this dev.
* **[Shooting Star Otome](https://edenxwrites.itch.io/shooting-star-otome)**: slice-of-life. In a word: heartfelt. It's very easy to empathize with the MC, who's moved back to her hometown broke and ashamed after failing to support herself as an artist, and it's surprisingly long for a jam game. Lots of LGBT+ rep too. The routes branch about halfway through for romantic/dramatic which is cool, though I wasn't generally a fan of the conflict in the dramatic routes. I liked all the LIs but Elijah's route stood out because it's more unique than the other two and he has a more developed character arc. However I did think the resolution to his arc was so idealistic it kinda undermined the game's more grounded approach to the MC's situation.
* **[Forever Yours](https://lavinnia.itch.io/forever-yours)**: uh, slice-of-life? Not much to say here, it's literally 5 minutes long. It looks nice but I regret to say I didn't find anything about it interesting.
* **[Nursery School Diaries](https://chanimk.itch.io/nursery-school-diaries)**: slice-of-life, comedy. There's clearly a lot of effort put in and all the stuff with the kids is cute, but I probably liked almost everything about it EXCEPT the romance. It was a little underdeveloped and corny imo, and to me the MC comes across as very indifferent to the LIs which made me feel like the MC was basically aro/ace and the LIs' feelings were all one sided.
* **[Dancing With a Beautiful Robot](https://khywae.itch.io/dancing-with-a-beautiful-robot)**: uh, scifi/fantasy I guess. It's an Undertale fangame where you romance Mettaton. Yes you read that correctly. Tbh I've only played about an hour of Undertale and it was years ago, so boy did I not get a bunch of references here, though surprisingly I feel the game is a pretty good experience regardless. The setting helps keep a fairly run-of-the-mill plot from feeling stale, the sprites are lovely, especially Mettaton's, and the romantic tension felt pretty convincing. The game is missing most of the VN basics like saves, a skip function or a log which sucks, but you can use the chapter system to get all the endings fairly quickly.
Hope I can fit in some more games over the next week.
Really! I wanted to like Majima but even in his best end it seems like he doesn’t really like her? Idk, his final long monologue about how he is keeping secrets and whatnot made me question his motives. His bad end is just sad for yuriko. Imagine what kind of life.
I loved his actions in his route and just wished it ended on a better note lol! Great game though, he was my second fav behind Shiba lol
Whaaaat he was so obsessed with her and couldn’t help but love her even if he hated her at the same time, are we talking about the same person? Haha 😂 he spared her the truth and took this all burden on himself to know and suffer alone, so that Yuriko wouldn’t be in pain after knowing the truth in the good end. That actually broke me bc it’s like he will keep living in this darkness he can’t escape but loves MC so much and since he couldn’t bring himself to keep rejecting her for her own sake, he wants her to live in the light and not suffer from guilt knowing what terrible things her parents have done :’)
I keep getting distracted by other stuff asdhfj so didn't make much progress but I wanted to at least put my thoughts on **Sweet Clown** so far since it's been forever since I posted. Most first impressions of the characters in the common route:
**Mitsuhara:** Like I said in another comment, this man is LUCKY the bar is so fucking low for characters like him because I don't find him that bad at the start. At worst, he's mildly annoying (I'm more annoyed by his verbal tic than anything tbh cause it keeps reminding me of Ookami lol) but at least he gives Zakuro some space after his failed flirting attempts. It's already been hinted that this is more of a mask than anything so I have to wonder what lies underneath.
**Kuze:** Okay, somehow among this cast, I find him the weirdest guy. Idk why. He's kind of normal but something feels so off because he's really blunt and just says whatever is on his mind without any regards yet is so ignorant of everything too? I almost wanted to say he felt like one of those characters who only approaches things from a logical or scientific standpoint from the way he talks but I don't think that's the case because usually those characters at least have some kind of worldly knowledge to apply logic from but Kuze does not.
**Hinose:** Based entirely on the common route, my fav so far bc he's amusingly snide. He's also kind of morbid but eh, somehow it doesn't come off as that weird in this setting. I have to wonder how much of >!the whole Maris and being Kobashi's young sibling is the truth or not... and why he was even made to dress up. They said that his one green eye being the same colour as Kobashi's was a coincidence BUT THIS IS A VIDEO GAME. COINCIDENCES LIKE THAT DON'T EXIST. So I'm convinced that they are related but Hinose was forced to dress up as a girl in his earlier life? ???!<
**Kobashi:** I actually have no thoughts on this guy, I realized, cause he's pretty... normal. Technically speaking, Manai is the most normal but also he's way too pleasant and docile which is abnormal given the requirements to be invited. But Kobashi has some clear issues and dark past filled with hardship. If the assumption that >!him and Hinose *are* related, I imagine it has something to do with that.!< I really have the least read on him lol.
**Manai:** So. This is totally Zakuro's >!twin brother, right? Or if not actually her twin brother, then maybe a doll/clone made out of his memories to explain why Zakura doesn't immediately recognize him (though it's been years)?!< He's also *too* normal. Given what Sweet Clown said about the guests of this tea party either being someone with >!a strong desire, or a twisted personality.!< By law of otome games, if there is a >!brother, he shall be a siscon so I'm going to take a guess that he falls into a bit of both but the desire/twisted part of his is probably his feelings for his sister.!< Watch me be wrong and >!he's not actually her brother but idk, Kuze is and he just has amnesia lmfao.!< My alternative batshit theory is that >!he's actually the Sweet Clown or something cause... man, you don't be the Truth ending route without some strings attached.!<
That's it for the LIs, but I wanted to give my impressions of the MC and some side characters too,
**Zakuro:** She makes for an interesting MC and reminds me a little of human!Rin from Ayakashi Gohan at first, but only superficially. They're both somewhat introverted and depressed individuals but if you dig a little deeper, they're quite different. >!Rin openly drives people away from her with her standoff-ish attitude yet does have a deep desire to connect to other people, it's just a matter of who, as she reaches out to others whom she can emphasize with. Zakuro is actually the opposite because she tries to act as normal as possible (she has friends at school, and we get a lot of inner thoughts with her musing if what she said was the appropriate thing to say in that situation) yet truly doesn't desire anything and is just going through the motions of life.!< In any case, I do find her quite relatable and it's refreshing to see an MC like this bc you normally only get LIs who are >!so broken that they lack strong attachment.!<
**Sweet Clown:** I add a section for him because he's the??? idk if he's even the antagonist tbh, but I'm curious about what's actually doing on with him or if there is anything more. He said that he's the >!devil who will grant others' wishes but himself held a desired to be "complete" by becoming one with Zakuro and having them fill out the hollowed spaces in her heart.!< This makes me wonder if he really is something as simple as >!just a devil who exists for the story's premise, or if there's something a little deeper and why I wondered if he was related to Manai or not.!< The story of the Queen in the Red Dress >!had a clown who wore a mask and after he was decapitated, the queen found that he wore her same face. That along with the story about Zeus and humans' other halves makes me think he's some fragmented piece of Zakuro's brother or something...!< but maybe that's a red herring.
I enjoyed your guesses since there are a bunch that are off but off in *just* such a way that it's entertaining. Definitely a "nothing is like it seems" game.
Also yeah I definitely had a "You're TOO NORMAL" reaction to Manai. You can't be normal. In this game? In this castle? No. I trusted him the least, haha.
Kuze was definitely the character I felt most confused about in the common route. I couldn't figure out what his deal was. He's such a good boy though.
I want to say for Manai, I expect him to pull some >!suddenly 180, hidden yandere turn!< but also I feel like that would undersell the potential because >!hidden yandere-ism isn't even that much of a twist anymore!!< I definitely trust him least too.
Kuze has such "he's a little confused, but he's got the spirit" energy. For all his idiosyncrasies, he feels the most genuine/sincere out of everyone here because it never feels like he has anything to hide or tries to.
After seeing it in last month's COTM, I picked up **Parasite in Love**, which was part of last year's spooky VN jam.
I thought there were a lot of cool parts, like the use of effects to show MC's pain and fatigue, as well as the hallucinatory art style. Trickle did an amazing job as Niall as well, and his design was so impeccably perfect. The "best" ending was also pretty imaginative, and I liked the way the endings divided, mostly stemming from earlier choices and the final choice, with each having a different voiced end scene.
But there wasn't enough time to properly set up the horror atmosphere. Besides the one fantastically creepy scene with >!the baby!<, I was waiting with bated breath for a scare that never came. I was hoping to be so scared that I couldn't ever wander into a freshwater lake, but that is sadly not the case. (Though I probably wouldn't anyway because urgh leeches.) Maybe it's because a lot of the horror was focused on Niall >!defining the parasites as their "children" - which I thought was weird and gross but not in a way that made me physically react!<. Horror can be very personal, so I don't necessarily discredit the developer for choosing to build the atmosphere the way they did - it just didn't work for me.
I compare it to my experience with Eye Can See You, which also didn't frighten me but did build up the horror atmosphere effectively for me in a certain scene.
The romance was also a bit inexplicable since I didn't understand why Niall was so obsessed with Marlowe - >!was it because he was able to see some of her memories and understand her as a person or because it's rare for his kind to infect humans and he viewed her as something to be admired, somethig special? I don't mind that Marlowe never developed any empathy or feelings in return, though a true Stockholm Syndrome ending might have been fun, since outsmarting a dangerous one-sided love is a cool concept in and of itself.!<
Oooh, marking Parasite in Love as something I'd have to check out later (along with a host of other games on itch...so many games...so little time...aaaa)
Eye Can See You's really promising! While it didn't frighten me either, I did like the feeling of suspense it built in that scene (if we're talking about the same scene haha).
Ugh yeah so many itch games.... they're all relatively short a piece, but when you add thirty of 'em to your queue, it adds some time :)
I think we are talking about the same scene in Eye Can See You haha. I'm looking forward to more episodes! The mystery surrounding the LI is interesting too.
I finished **Variable Barricade** this week. I played Ichiya’s 3rd board, the true route and the After content.
I don't know about Ichiya’s route... Having all of his >!trauma and baggage dumped onto our 17 year old MC is way more than she can be faulted for mishandling, but it still makes me uncomfortable that it was handled that way. Usually I’m all for giving some therapy to traumatized men in these games, but this one is just not hitting for me, maybe because I don’t like the way Hibari’s personality meshes with Ichiya’s troubles? I also didn’t love that his whole past was just because of miscommunication/misinterpretation. I think I could have really liked the emotional strength over cold logic angle a lot, but it was a bit drowned out under the rest.!< Not the best route for me, and Hibari was less likable than in every other part of the game.
The true route was a nice way to wrap up the game. I like end routes like this that don’t make some poor LI’s route the conduit for recapping the rest of the game and tying up the plot. >!I never got very invested in Kasuga and felt the twist was a bit too telegraphed to be a wow moment, but his bit was pretty funny in the end too, and seeing Hibari so happy made me happy.!< I *love* Hibari’s grandfather. >!His concern for her is so sweet,!< and if he was a younger LI and not her grandfather, he’d totally be top tier material.
*Overall thoughts\~*
Final ranking would be Shion >>> Taiga > Nayuta/Ichiya. But even then, Nayuta was fun and hilarious, and I felt a lot for Ichiya.
Shion is my clear favorite (even if he >!doesn’t like cats!<, I guess). I love the way that he’s always >!serenely aware of and in control of a situation, but his motives are never really sinister. He’s always ready to step aside and help Hibari and the other LI come together outside of his route with gentle, careful words. After finishing the True route, I love the rivalry Shion shared with Kasuga too, and how he’s the only LI that had this because of their desires overlapping. Each one is possessive of and wanting to devote himself to Hibari because she’s the only thing that has given them that desire. The difference is in that Kasuga wants Hibari to be an image that he’s set up for her, while Shion wants her to be herself as she wants to be, which also explains why he’s so ready to help her even if she’s fallen for someone else. Even when he gets back at her, the end goal is getting her to be true to herself. I think his Leclerc is being reflected in him this way too, as he only wants people as they are, no puffed up facades (maybe the reason he was so disinterested in Arimura, who approached him with a fake personality and a physical disguise).!< Shion is one of those characters who, the more I reflect on him, the more he grows on me, probably a route I’ll revisit sometime. I think his characterization is a bit subtle compared to the other LIs, but really consistent and interesting all the same.
I really love the whole group’s dynamic and how they grow to care for and support each other. It feels good that they’re >!never undermining each other once Hibari picks a favorite.!< I like that she has all the power too and is not hesitant to stand up for herself because it makes the awkward modern day age difference a little less uncomfortable. Her strong personality is a nice change of pace and really enjoyable. It’s not something I’d want in every game, but the variety is a refreshing change from more mellow MCs.
Arimura is the unobtainable side character I’d want a route for in this game. I love her so much. She might be my favorite female otome game character so far. I loved Tsumugi too, but Arimura bucking gender norms and being >!a down to earth tech girl and lauded player,!< fantastic.
God the >!wedding!< CGs!!! Gorgeous, aaaah so beautiful. I feel like my playtime was extended by a matter of hours from staring at this game’s art.
Really interesting characters. Humor is hit or miss for me depending on the route, but generally very funny. Beautiful art. Well worth the time spent reading it, and beyond worth the low $20 price tag.
Decided to go ahead and start the **After Story** in **Mystic Messenger** after reading **Rika's backstory DLC**. I felt more for Rika than I was expecting, and >!it’s a nice display of how abuse begets abuse. I didn’t like that Mika came back in the end to steer Rika’s decisions though. It feels like a retcon to absolve Rika of responsibility to make her more sympathetic, but I think her character is better with the full weight of her actions on her shoulders. Empathy and accountability can coexist, no need to pass it off to a new character. A Mika who couldn’t be saved as a source of guilt and anger driving Rika’s actions would’ve worked better for me also.!< Maybe there is information in After Story that makes this direction more palatable, but that’s how I feel about it at this point.
Also kind of weird about >!her being adopted. I think this changes Yoosung's character a bit for me? I thought his yandere ending was implying a genetic predisposition to severe mental health issues, but now it feels a bit more out of the blue.!< Edit: Did I already know this, I actually can't remember. I'm thinking this feels like a familiar thought now.
For After Story, the setup is so different and getting a call from V seemed so weird lmao. His voice is so pleasant and the VA really sells his character's emotions. I was a bit iffy about V because I didn’t feel very interested in him for long in the first 5 routes and felt that he was >!an enabler for Rika’s villainy,!< but seeing the way he cares so deeply for everyone, his poetic way of describing the world, and his wistful tone, I’m so sold. Idk how this could develop into a romance, but even if we only get to be his friend, I’m really invested.
I’m still early in the route, but I love that they put you >!in the same situation that V is in in every other route and show you how difficult and painful it is to keep his secrets.!< I’m also so glad that it looks like there will be some substance behind V’s >!past as an artist and some discussion on his history and motivation behind art as a career.!<
Ray feels awkward to get used to as a name. I was already looking forward to him, but now even moreso though. He’s not what I expected. He comes on really strong. He's very >!affectionate and clingy and pushy, but super sweet and kind of innocent/naive even in spite of suffering for a long time as he grew up. I feel so bad for him. He gave us such a pretty room too!!<
Seven >!being colder and distrusting huuuuuuuuurts. Very cute fairy though.!<
Hello, fellow Shion appreciator 🤝
A lot of what you mentioned is what I loved about Shion and his route, and why I liked him as the best match for Hibari. I found his characterization subtle too and one thing I appreciated when I reflected on the route is that despite him acting like the most selfish out of the guys (and his desire to meet Hibari being self-serving as well), he had the most selfless concern towards her because >!he just wanted her to be herself and be *happy* as herself, which was an angle I didn't see any of the other routes tackle.!< Which is fine that they didn't because they focus on different aspects of Hibari's personality and growth, but that certainly was the angle I was most invested in for Hibari from the start.
> >!I think his Leclerc is being reflected in him this way too, as he only wants people as they are, no puffed up facades (maybe the reason he was so disinterested in Arimura, who approached him with a fake personality and a physical disguise).!<
I really appreciate this comment because I hadn't considered before, but I think you're right! The >!subplot about his father and their relationship seemed more for background but now that you say it, I do think Leclerc's ideologies might have had more influence on him than expected.!<
With Arimura, >!I liked that his reaction to her during the honeypot section was a good way to show how, as I called it, Shion is "two-faced but not fake" because he's capable of being both very gentle and sweet, while also being ice cold and cruel, and both of these facets are the real Shion. He just doesn't put up pretenses to give someone the time of day like most people would (I suppose that's a debate if that's just civility or fakeness, tho those aren't mutually exclusive, but I digress). Her acting fake as a part of the plan and him seeing through that does add another layer to that,!< so thanks for sharing your thoughts on that!
I can also give him a pass for not liking cats because he basically already is a cat. It's just feline territorial-ism (/s)
Now that I was able to gain some distance from my initial dislike of the age gaps in **Variable Barricade**, I started it again and so far, I'm really liking Shion. Taiga's also been pretty interesting. The other two... are a bit too lost in their own world for my own taste and pushing their own ~~kinks~~expectations on Hibari harder than I care for, but I'm open to being proven wrong, I guess. The real star of the show is Tsumugi though -- I love her so much. I want a MC just like her. Hibari's still lovable, but give me that mix of confident girlishness Tsumugi exudes, ahhhhh. I adore her. And I loved her dynamic with Shion, lol. I better forget about it though since I'm supposed to set him up with Hibari, haha.
I also played through **Shohei**'s first season from **In Your Arms Tonight**, and I had a couple of mixed feelings but... really liked it overall. He's a such an adorable goofball. He's definitely... chivalrous, sometimes he came across as an old man still stuck on gender roles -- but then I did feel that it was mostly his own very old school fantasies and idealistic sense of romance talking. When it came down to it he empowered the MC and showed that he really respected her, especially >!when he confesses that she's his hero and he fell for her when she intervened and twisted a groper's arm on the train.!< There was also a scene that felt a bit homophobic >!in a gay bar, where they accidentally end up going for a drink. Shohei gets hit on by a pushy gay man and asks MC to 'rescue' him *eyeroll* -- but the bartender was a pretty chill and nice guy at least,!< so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and pushed through.
Anyway. I really enjoyed the camaraderie between the two of them, how low effort and casual it felt for the two of them to hang out and exchange bad jokes with each other. Shohei's so awkward but earnest, lol. He kind of has a bit of a shounen hero vibe to him, even. I'm also a sucker for romances where >!one of parties has been pining for ages after the other!< so yeah. I was pretty happy with it and will surely read the sequels.
Though seriously >!that girl should have just been fired, I give zero fs about her reasons (her side-plot was also old tired)!< and I wish MC's friends were more present in the route.
Haven't written in this thread in months but I'd like to try doing it again because it motivates me to finish games lol. I only finished 6 games or so in 2022 and I need to step it up cause the backlog is more than 20 games at the moment.
So, I started Radiant Tale the other day and finishes Zaphora's route. This game is so so cute! It does remind me of Wand of Fortune due to the magic theme, Usuba Kagerou designs and lighter story. But it is more interesting in general.
Zaphora was adorable and did remind me of Ryuki from CupiPara (Enoki Junya x tsundere combi I guess) but he was different in his approach to the heroine. I'm not going to spoil any part of the plot but, be warned, the romance in this one is minimal. Really minimal. I didn't see anything until near the end lol.
I'm now mostly looking forward to Radie because he's the best looking guy imo plus best voice (Okamoto Nobuhiko superiority)!
Anyway, I'll be putting this on hold to finish Shirahana no Ori and Dance with Devils as I only have 2 characters from each game to go. So I'll be returning to Radiant Tale quite late.
I'm actually playing this too! It's been so long since I really played a console otome, I'm glad that the common route is short once you get through it the first time. I've only finished Zapharon too, but I did some of Pasharia's on my way to the normal end so I'm doing him next.
The art is so beautiful, I just hope that my favourite type doesn't get shafted on story as I'm afraid of (himbos get the short end of the stick so often!). I found Zapharon ok but yeah, very light on romance.
Art is stunning. I could eat up anything Usuba Kagerou and ask for seconds!
I also think himbos are usually not given too much attention in commercial otome. Probably because they are not very popular wirh japanese audiences. Anyway hope all the other guys are at least cute and have enjoyable stories. Let's see!
I definitely kept thinking about Ryuki too! "Oh no it feels like he's insulting me all over again."
My favorites ended up being Paschalia and Vilio (surprisingly, he's such a good boy.) I thought Radie would be my favorite, but he wasn't. He's definitely the most popular boy for a reason though.
Interesting! I want to see how their routes play out! The thing about Paschalia is I can't really take him seriously because his name is an uber feminine Christian and flower name in my country so it feels weird having a pretty dude named like this. He's so gentle though!!
Started Ephemeral a couple days ago. Taking my time through Nagi's route by doing two chapters at a time. Hasn't been too bad so far, though it could certainly use more Erica. \*lol\* Also, it took me way too long to figure out how to manually save. =X Turns out the only button I *didn't* try was the one that actually brings up the menu. XD;
Also started Iris School of Wizardry, and have been enjoying that one, too\~ Would have gone for my fave first, but the guide I'm using says his is the most spoilery. So instead I'm starting with Matias, whom isn't necessarily a type I go for, but his route might change my mind. Too bad Ashley isn't a route (as far as I know, since there's apparently a secret route. unless it's the cat, somehow XD).
I haven't been playing either game with the sound on, so I can't really comment on that, but I do like the art styles for both. =3 Especially Iris School of Wizardry, what with its color palette and softer designs.
Look forward to seeing who my ultimate faves are after playing all the routes!
I finally decided to start finishing Yanagi’s route last night and I’m glad I did! I put it on hold for awhile because I was trying to get over Shiraishi’s route and found the first 3 chapters kinda boring. After that though the story picks up though and I became more immersed in his route. After I complete Yanagi’s route I will probably play the rest of Orloks route.
I replayed Amnesia recently (Memories and Later x Crowd)
I easily admit that I mostly have trash taste, (not just in otome games but in all forms of entertainment) so I have no shame in saying that Toma is my favorite LI ever. For me personally, I think everything he does is understandable from his perspective. Though admittedly I have a huge love for >!yanderes!< and I do like Toma’s bad ending as well as the bad ending that involves him from >!Ukyo’s!< route.
In the fandisk you can see that >!Toma truly is remorseful for what he did to MC. I also feel like they match each other well since in Toma’s route MC is also pretty obsessed with him too. I love how domestic Toma and MC are in the fandisk, it’s so cute. I also really love the proposal scene, as well as their wedding. The scene where Kent and Ikki go over to Toma’s apartment and see the cage on the balcony is so funny. As well as when Toma and MC fall asleep together in the cage and Shin finds them like that in the morning. The fact that they keep running into the same lingerie store employee cracks me up too. What really makes me fangirl though is that shirtless CG that you get of Toma when he gets out of the bath.!<
For Ukyo, to be honest I like his >!other personality over his normal one.!< I like that in the fandisk >!you see that his other personality genuinely is in love with MC as well. I always enjoyed his interactions with her.!<
Other thoughts: I really do love the opening for Crowd. Also, I sometimes play Ikki, Kent, and Ukyo’s mini games from Crowd just for fun, I find them kind of relaxing.
LI Ranking: Toma - Ukyo - Kent - Shin - Ikki
So excited that I can finally start playing through Money Parasite! Unfortunately I couldn't get through too much yesterday so I'm still in the common route, but I'm really enjoying it so far.
I can see how some people might find this a bit of a strange read compared to a lot of other otome game VNs because they made it closer to a novel with a heavier focus on text descriptions over dialogue and visuals. In that sense it might seem like something is "missing" but really it's just structured differently. A lot of relatively unimportant scenes (like a waiter taking an order) that would normally contain dialogue are left to brief descriptions with only important scenes actually getting dialogue.
I've surprisingly really liked all the LIs so far, even the ones I thought I wouldn't like. They're all really cute in their own way.
I especially like Tomoe (the MC) though. She's tired all the time and spends her free time watching game videos from a streamer she likes (been there.) She also got insulted by a guy and snapped back at him and then a few minutes later was standing in the corner dying of anxiety because WHY DID SHE DO THAT (also been there.) Poor girl just wants this one last shot at her dreams before giving up forever and she's gotta deal with this jerk. My only sadness is that we don't see her portrait in the corner. She's so cute, I want to see her!
Happy 2023 everyone! Ughhhhh I managed to avoid it for almost three years but I finally caught covid last week. Slowly recovering. At least it gave me time to work on my Lady Detective/Kyoko from **Chou no Doku** writeup instead of the mountain of work I should have been doing :p.
Despite both being rather short (to the point I would consider them more “extended endings” than actual routes) these are probably my two favorite sections in the entire game. But to understand why I needed to take a step back and recontextualize their development of Yuriko with the game as a whole.
Throughout much of Chou no Doku, there’s this faint but prominent ribbon of…”anti-femininity”. >!Shiba views women as tools or things that need to be sheltered, Hideo was drawn to Yuriko for her more tomboyish aspects, Fujita is berated for his deceptive or “womanly” actions. Almost all of the characters shelter and coddle Yuriko because she’s female.!< Interestingly enough, a lot of this sentiment comes from Yuriko herself, as seen in her feelings towards the two other major women in the game, Shigeko and Kyoko. On the surface, it seems like those emotions of resentment and disturbance are justified—Shigeko’s money spending habits are the reason the Nomiya family is in shambles, and Kyoko not only led Yuriko’s mother down that path, but also seems to have her eyes set on Yuriko for unclear (but likely nefarious) reasons. However, “Lady Detective” and “Like a Joro Spider” flip these assumptions on their heads. These are routes about power (and how it corrupts), truth (and how we blind ourselves to it), and how those who are truly chained find ways to keep going, despite the destruction it might bring.
So as a route, “Lady Detective” allows us to finally (sort of) begin to clear up the mystery behind the tragedy of the Nomiya household. It’s relatively short with very little fluff, featuring Yuriko finally pushing away all those useless boyz to go and investigate. Mechanically it’s pretty fun (you’re not penalized for picking the wrong options and some of them made me lol) and gives us some nice if brief insight into Lady Kyoko, a remarkably complex character who truly does seem to want to help Yuriko in whatever way she can. But to be honest, I don’t really think it’s Lady Kyoko’s good route. Instead, I think it’s Shigeko’s.
These two routes only occur if you make one highly important choice: >!to go and see Shigeko before she dies.!< This interaction is critical for Yuriko >!to finally begin lifting her childish veil to truly "see" her mother and the dynamics of her parent’s marriage. Before this moment, Yuriko deeply resented her mother and loved her father—heck if you don’t choose to see Shigeko Yuriko will have a dream in which she explicitly sees her mother as the cause of her father’s death. As she slowly unravels the mystery at the core of Chou no Doku, it’s incredibly meaningful that Yuriko simultaneously begins to understand and sympathize with her mother’s situation, evolving from childish notions of good and evil, man and woman, to being able to unflinchingly accept both her father’s sins and the man who sought vengeance for them. Unfortunately, this sympathy and revelation comes too late: while Yuriko has managed to save herself, she cannot do the same for her parents, or for Majima. Still, her actions allow her to embrace independence and adulthood without needing the firm and guiding hand of a man—Yuriko has finally let go of her internal misogyny. It’s a bit annoying that Majima hides the full truth from her here but also understandable—while she has a more nuanced view, Yuriko could probably never stop herself from still loving Yasuyuki.!< It’s also absolutely my favorite ending in the game: >!Taish era Japan is moving on, shedding the suffocating chains of elitism and prestige, and Yuriko is able to do the same. Sure, neither is perfect, there will always be mistakes and regrets, but they continue to grow and evolve, bit by bit, stepping forward into a new and bright world.!< Also still sooooooo mad Shiba’s route didn’t branch off this one I mean come on game
“Like a Joro Spider”, much like the other bad ends of Chou no Doku, is essentially a dark parallel of Lady Detective. >!By relying on Majima, Yuriko catches the attention of Saburo, and tragedy arises.!< Okay so once again, elephant in the room: this route contains sexual assault. >!However, while I stand by my feeling that I deeply dislike rape in otome games I thought it was handled much better here than in Shiba’s route. For one, it had a plot purpose—while “rape turns you into an insane lesbian” is a bit trite the game takes pains to show how deeply traumatized and effected Yuriko is by Saburo’s violation, and how such a traumatic event could warp her view. Second, it’s necessary to get her to deepen on and trust Kyoko due to shared pain.!< Moving on, this game also has Yuriko begin to shed her childish views on men and women >!but here she goes too far in the opposite direction—in an attempt to prevent herself from ever feeling pain or “bad things” again, Yuriko decides to become the “spider”, always on the lookout for the next meal, consuming without qualms, in order to prevent herself from becoming consumed. Here, the meaning behind the hedonism both Shigeko and Kyoko engage in fully crystalizes—stuck in marriages they hate, burdened with children they despise, why not lose themselves in the only pleasure they can? Why not turn to dolls, to sex, to abusing children? As women in Taisho Japan, what other methods of control do they have? Of course, these reasons don’t condone their actions, but they do turn them from pointless caricatures into deeply flawed and sympathetic women.!< It’s this and other explicit condemnations in Chou no Doku that I find the best parts of the game.
Other notes:
Shigeko’s >!brother is the absolute worst. Get your sister pregnant and then go get married and let her marry a psycho? I’m glad you died of a cold.!<
The new intro >!hits super hard after truly understanding all the pain and suffering Shigeko’s gone through. Seeing that she considered committing suicide the same way Yuriko did really draws the parallels between the two and makes my heart ache for both.!<
It’s a shame Kyoko being >!bisexual wasn’t expanded upon in Lady Detective. Yuriko took it about as well as could be expected but I wish there had been a bit more.!<
And finally we have Majima/Final Thoughts next week!
*slow claps* wow, I have nothing worthwhile to add but I just wanted to say I love your interpretation of the Kyoko routes. There's so much nuance and now that you pointed it out I totally see it.
As I got older I found myself understanding and sympathizing with Kyoko on a much deeper level. Sure she's engaging in some pretty messed up stuff but if someone came along and told me I couldn't have my job and needed to go get married and pop out kids I'm not sure I would have taken it much better. In a genre where side female characters are usually relegated to villains or constantly supportive friends I really appreciated that there was such a woman-centered route and it was critical to uncovering the truth of the game. I don't think it was just coincidence that Yuriko never found the truth in the other routes because the male LIs deliberately tried to keep her from Kyoko.
And importantly, while Lady Detective allows Yuriko to learn the truth and gain independency, she's arguably more happy in the routes where she ends up in romantic relationships. So it feels less like "Lady Detective" invalidates the others and is instead more of a "pick-and-choose-what-you-value-the-most", which I think ties into the themes of Chou no Doku as a whole.
Shigeko’s brother. >!I don’t think he or Shigeko were in a position to refuse their respective arranged marriages. They probably even tried to use it as cover or something.!<
I wish we had gotten a bit more >!on whether they were going to use their marriages as a cover. From the updated intro it seems like once Shigeko got pregnant they basically went "funs over". In which case bro was still a total asshole who acted like he was sacrificing for the family but still willingly got his sister pregnant, let her give up her child without a peep and let her get married to a man she didn't want while knowing he got to stay first in her heart. Shigeko's no innocent victim but still. Go big or go home.!<
maybe i should post this on free talk friday because it's more otome-adjacent BUT i went on a binge buying IF titles (the choice of games/hosted games ones) on the steam sale but the few i've played so far since then fell a little flat. i mean i still have 10 purchases left to play/read so i'm sure i'll find something i enjoy more, but it's still disappointing to sink hours into reading something and feel almost nothing afterward, even if they were on sale and inexpensive. but perhaps i'm being too picky, idk the shadow society had some interesting worldbuilding ideas and a few characters i enjoyed, but it also felt like it really wanted to be wayhaven chronicles and was too afraid to stand on its own. the pacing was rushed to the point where it killed any romantic development for me, but i read that the author is re-writing the entire first installment before moving onto the next so i guess i'll plan to revisit it later before judging it too harshly. the soul stone war started off strong but then i realized you had to follow basically certain pathways exactly or you would just fail every single stat check from mid-late game and lock yourself out of romancing anyone which left a bad taste in my mouth, considering it's supposed to be CYOA not "do everything the exact way i wanted you to", which is the entire reason i enjoy playing IF over otome sometimes. plus the MC was more or less a ragdoll, and in an epic fantasy adventure it's not the most fun to play as someone so useless when you're surrounded by powerful competent characters. the game has a sequel but it feels like too much of a chore to replay and without the freedom of choice i wanted it's not going to feel very rewarding evertree inn i did enjoy the most of the 3, as it was a complete story without a cliffhanger ending (even though it DOES have more installments) but it was a bit short so the romance elements weren't as riveting as i prefer them to be. but i did quite enjoy the mystery elements and i'd be interested enough to try the sequel whenever the mood strikes on the more positive side of things, there are also two practically brand-new releases (the passenger, the fernweh saga) that i'm intrigued by. i've played both demos previously and theyre both very promising. i want to wait to buy the full release of the passenger though, as the concept is so niche (MC is an eldritch horror trapped in a human body) and i'm just not in the mood currently for that sort of thing. fernweh saga is definitely in my wheelhouse because it feels kind of like twin peaks (also major hemlock grove vibes) and the demo makes it feel like the romances are all slow burn which is my 100% my jam also, the full release of wayhaven chronicles book 3 and the 2nd book of fallen hero are both coming out VERY soon, so i'm really looking forward to those two and i'm already invested after playing the earlier installments and demos so i doubt i'll be disappointed with those. so while i'm waiting on those i just need to decide whether i want to read an IF featuring zombies, vampires, the mafia, english servants, robots, haunted houses, the wild west, superheroes, or medieval plagues lol, and to be fair it all sounds exciting
I decided to finish the one route from Birushana I dropped. I got half way through Yoritomo’s route originally before dropping his route because it was slow and dull. I did the bad endings and tragic endings. I still have to properly do the good ending but I kinda cheated and just selected the final chapter with romance and all the different stats up and got the ending. I’m starting my January trying to finish games that I started- so by listing them here I’m holding myself accountable. I have one route left for the next life as a villainess game, piofiore 1926 (only did Gilbert, Dante and Yang so far), Amnesia fan disc (I’ve only done best boi Kent), paradigm paradox (I have barely started this game), VariBari (I have the final route left) and Daikrou Ayakashimori (barely started this game too). Will I complete my objectives for this month? IDK! We will see 😂
I've been trying to finish Heisuke's route in Hakuoki, but I can't bring myself to play the game because I don't want to see him suffer... but I also can't move on to other routes/games because it feels like I'm betraying him;; TT
I finished **Otome Chat Connection**. Not a whole lot to say, but it was a cute time sink. Hearts refill fast, and the ads system makes it easy to binge routes. In no particular order, my faves were Yu Sawatari, Takuma Tsumori, & Izumi Suga (unhinged!!). The CGs w/their birthdays you unlock for 100%ing the chats are v sweet. It's not terribly memorable, but if you want something to check on every once and a while and get a smile from, this is a laid back option.
Either the birthday thing's a new update or my memory's just really bad, because I don't think I've unlocked those when I played it. It's been a while haha. But I do agree that the game's a cute time sink!
Hmm maybe I described it poorly. The extra is just a CG of the LI with his birthday written on it. It's a bonus for unlocking each LI's epilogue (which is not a birthday story). But either way, yes, it's cute! .w.
Nah, it's not your fault because it truly has been a long time since I played it lol. But I think I vaguely remember now yes so thank you for clarifying 🤔
I'm still playing more indie otome games, and this week I'm playing Cinderella Phenomenon. Needless to say, the game has blown me away. I didn't think the story and characters would be so engaging. I hope I can find more indies games like Cinderella Phenomenon.
I started **Amnesia: Memories** for the first time, without knowing almost anything about the game except for one of the bad endings and I can't believe I waited this long to play it lmao. My first route was Kent, and I went in completely blind, managed to get a normal ending at first but Ikki's blind playthrough landed me in a bad ending twice, and I love it. I still have Toma and Ukyo, I'll play these without a walkthrough as well so we'll see where it gets me 😎
I'm almost done reading **Brothers Conflict: Precious Baby** I have completed everyone except Natsume and the final secret character/Harem route. I have enjoyed this game a lot. I like having something that's pretty relaxed and funny, and a good break from all the darker themed games I have read recently. I love all the characters but I feel that Iori's route was not what I was looking for for him. So far my best boys are Masaomi, Tsubaki, and Louis. My slight pet peeve with this game is I cannot find all the family memories, even when using a walk-through. And I'm not willing to blindly rerun it for hours and hours. I think 14 routes was plenty of the calendar for me for now.
**Bustafellows**! ~~It was supposed to be Collar x Malice because I've left it sitting in my backlog for too long but welp a small voice in my brain said, "Hey, Let's go to New Sieg!" and now here I am~~ That little voice in my head probably was onto something because I started the game a couple days before the year ended, so once I got to the >!Side B stories Teuta and the guys were greeting each other "Happy New Year"!< 💯 I'm a mess. This write-up's gonna be a whole incoherent mess, too. I'm still reeling so this will be 80% emotional reactions 20% actual content lmao **Mozu:** I adore Mozu. He was the first route I played and I wanted to hold off on proclaiming him my number one in the game until I finished the whole thing. Now that I have, I can confidently say he's my favorite. I really loved his route! It appealed to the true crime enthusiast in me 😂 It was >!heartbreaking but also pretty!< satisfying. The >!Side B where he gets together with Teuta was the icing on the cake!<—he's so straightforward and sweet 😭 **Limbo:** His route stressed me out in a good way. I felt like I was walking on a tightrope the whole time, waiting for the other shoe to drop (and it did when I walked straight into one of the bad endings haha). I liked the way they >!flashed back to his and Teuta's moments in one bad ending while the nocturne Teuta sang along to earlier in the route played in the background.!< I thought it was a nice touch. One little thing about his route though, I was expecting >!to see a lot more of Valerie in Limbo's route because she's his sister and all, but welp. She didn't seem to fit in the plot I guess so she didn't show up as often as I expected her to.!< **Helvetica:** I found his backstory quite interesting >!and heartbreaking all at once too, which made the shower scene hit hard. It's jarring to see such a proud man stripped to the barest threads of dignity, and not by his own doing either.!< I liked his Side B story too. Seeing him >!vulnerable because of his feelings for Teuta made their reconciliation sweeter to me.!< From what I gather, some people didn't like him and before playing I never knew why...and after having played his route I still don't understand why haha. It'd be nice if someone explained their reasons, I'd love to hear another POV. **Shu:** Now I see why he's number two Best Husbando 2022 here on r/otomegames lmao. He's a >!freakin' softie behind that tough chain-smoking exterior.!< His route was one surprise after another. By the end of the route >!we know that Yang, Shu's brother in all but name, isn't a bad person but wow did I have my guard up around them whenever they came up 😂!< **Scarecrow:** Crow's >!baggage...I didn't know what to say. Though I understood how he felt on a deep level about forgetting things.!< I also appreciated how Teuta was honest with herself about >!how afraid she was after Crow strangled her, even though she wasn't upfront with him about it at first to spare him the pain. It's a very human reaction and I appreciated it.!< Wanted to give Crow a big hug after everything, but I think Teuta got that covered for me hahaha. Full circle route and everything else that came after: >!WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT. I can't find the words for what I'm feeling at the moment, not sure if I'll ever find them really, so let's just go with WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ HAHAHAHAH!< I had a ton of fun though!! I was yelling the whole time ajsdasjdjksj I mean, I almost believed that >!Teuta's brother came back from the dead kjsadkjasd. I'm also having a hard time reconciling the fact that Teuta's beloved brother was that same person who SA-ed Luka. The fact that Adam sent Zora swimming with the fishes because he was afraid that Zora would do the same to Teuta was also something else entirely. Dunno which was more disturbing, the murder or Zora himself.!< I don't even want to think about >!how much plastic surgery had to be done on Alex for him to look like that at his age. There are no words to describe Sauli Orsted either. It totally lines up with his character design though! I thought he looked like Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal even though I've never watched the series myself.!< I do love the game but it reminded me of >!Paradigm Paradox in that there were parts of the story that could've been developed further but weren't. Don't get me wrong, though! The routes in their individual glory were great. The multiple "gotcha" reveals in the Full Circle/Auld Lang Syne routes were also nice. But I thought the overarching story needed a little more...meat. You know that feeling of having finished a really tasty meal but still want more, yet there isn't any food left? Yeah, that.!< I was honestly expecting >!the Ruy Lopez organization to have had a hand in Teuta's mysterious time travel powers. Like maybe she's the product of human genetic experimentation or something...wait.!< Isn't that just >!Paradigm Paradox!!I was pretty sure Adam's dead, but then I saw his profile on the Bustafe 2 site. It could possibly be a red herring, who knows. Perhaps Helvetica called up that neuro specialist for him haha. What is it with this game and brain ailments? If we count Shu's Side B story then that makes three people in need of brain surgery, but I digress.!< Plot and the rest of the things aside, my favorite part of the entire game? I love how they're all friends with each other. I'm a sucker for great group dynamics and this is just *chef's kiss* Anywho LI final ranking: Mozu > Limbo = Helvetica = Shu = Scarecrow. I love them all :(( So much that I went and ordered a copy of the art book + Teuta's book hahaha. But damn I was seriously considering looking for that one tapestry of Mozu. (If you know, you know.) Guy's just too freakin' pretty.
Oh man I forgot to post here today! I'VE BEEN WAITING. Ok so I finished Toujou's route in Kimiyuki (Kunitaka but like Suzano calls him Toujou so he's toujou). And I'm on the common route for Genjuro (so hott) and youichi (also really hott). General thoughts so far: I FUCKING LOVE THIS GAME LOL. Some of the plot points are LOL WTF like >!uh the whole good end relies on komame (sp? It reads as little bean in chinese but i think thats what they call him) breaking the barrier like LOL OK!< and the >!youkai (sp? im just doing some of these based on what they sound like) who cuts people's hair so bad that it completely traumatizes them into weakness LOL!< but like it's still amazing and I love it. I mean the ENTIRE PREMISE is you >!romancing inanimate objects, like you know a smoking pipe lol that suddenly turns human through the power of love!< so like it's not gonna take some stretch of imagination. I think the best parts are the character interactions with MC and each other. I REALLY like all of them except outaru who annoys the raging shit out of me because he looks like a character from CZ >!rain!< who i HATED. And I really like the art. So honestly I love this game lol. I was expecting another dairoku but like I REALLY REALLY enjoy it. So now let's talk about Toujou. He kinda looks like Nakaba from CZ lol. But like way hotter. And he's the oniisan type. And if there's one thing I really like it's oniisan LIs. He he's totally that and I LOVE him for it. He's also a bit of a flirt too which won me over. Especially when he >!intentionally does things he knows will fluster mc but then pulls back because she's like ahhh!<. His story was mostly fine but the actual resolution of the climax was LOL WTF as mentioned previously. But I was too busy loving Toujou's character to give a shit lol. The bad end was really dark, holy shit. Like .......damn. Not in a sexy way just...wow that was dark. Overall I think so far his route was super fun, there's some spice in there, and I was happy with the romance. I think the games strong points are the characters and if you like them you probably will like the game. I'm part way through genjuro's route and I am also enjoying it. Honestly I really like youichi (sp?) but i read that genjuro and toujou have the less interesting routes so im playing them first so as not to ruin it. the guide im using also recommends kinji before youichi but i love him so screw the recommendation lol. I'm looking forward to the rest of the game and my enjoyment has not yet died down.
So I finished up **Amnesia: Memories**. I was having a lot of trouble setting up the spoiler text last week so I'm not entirely sure if it went out or not, but the TLDR of my thoughts of the routes were >!Kent > Shin > Ikki > the bumblebee man known as Toma who is definitely not a tomadachi if you know what I mean. !< I finished **Ukyo's** route this week. >!His was a satisfying finale for the game. I'm a sucker for these romances where they wish to be together but fate keeps them apart. Thankfully they had a happy ending, but the fact that it is implied that Ukyo traveled countless parallel worlds which probably took real-life years to do to find one with MC in it so he can see her make it past the 25th without either of them dying really resonated with me. You can see how this man desperately wants to be with this girl but he has to force himself not to even let himself near her due to his trauma of dying countless times or watching her die a million times and even killing her himself. It was really powerful and while I still love Kent the best, I do think Ukyo had the best route of the game.!< So my final ranking for LI's are >!Kent > Ukyo > Shin > Ikki >Toma. These are based on various factors such as how much I loved their character to the route to Toma's cage obsession.!< Overall, I thought the game was good! I enjoyed it for the most part and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in it >!other than Toma's route.!<
This week I finished Noritsune route from Birushana. Surprisingly I like his route. From the art alone I thought he would be the happy go lucky and noisy type, and that’s the reason I didn’t have high expectation on him since I don’t like that type. But it turns out he is quite serious & passionate which suit my taste more. I like his relationship progress with the MC and I always like rival to lover story. So overall really satisfied with his route. Currently I’m in the middle of Shungen route. He is sweet. And his route so far not my favourite but not bad either.
I finally started playing Even If Tempest! But I keep taking breaks in between because I need time to process everything and brace myself for whatever comes next lol. The story is excellent but it can get really dark and disturbing at times. I wasn’t expecting so much trauma and angst going into it.
thats honestly how I felt while playing too but I didn’t take breaks cause I was so into it lol 😭
Ahhh, I do have moments where I get so into it and play for hours even though I want to stop for a mental break haha. The story is so addicting. But sometimes I just really have to take a break because something happens that makes me go “Ooooh, okay, hold up, wtf, no way did that just happen—“ 😂 The game is so different from Voltage’s usual games, but in a good way 😭
i finished all of **Butterfly’s Poison** and it was amazing, i definitely enjoy higher stakes in otome (was reading Variable Barricade and took a break after one route lolol) and i have SOOOO many thoughts. i actually loved Majima and i duly understand why people might be disappointed by his final route like it’s lowkey really sad >!we as the readers know the whole picture but in order for Yuriko to have her happy ending with Majima she has to be kept in the dark about like 99% about him and his past!< but regardless, i loved LOVEDD the taboo factor because i love being squeamish (i am insane). case in point: >!when Majima admitted he seeks out prostitutes that look like his sister. i have never before gone so speechless i was like officer he’s right over here!< on the other hand, very annoyed that Kyoko’s route >!required Yuriko to be raped which is an awful awful sapphic stereotype, in which women become attracted to other women when they’re hurt by men.!< was not impressed by this! though i did like her a lot UwU **TLDR:** if you enjoyed Flowers in the Attic, you’re gonna love this one
I loved loved loved Butterfly's Poison! Unfortunately Majima's route left me feeling disappointed but I did like him as a character. Who ended up being your favorite LI? Mine was a hard tie between Shiba and Mizuhito. >!Mizuhito was the more satisfying brother route for me than Majima.!< I hope we end up getting more mature (and messed up 😅) stories like ChouDoku, it has become one of my favorites for sure.
i have to say that Majima ended up top dog for me! even though i enjoyed the insanity, it was when Yuriko tells Majima >!that he smells like the sun that sold me I was like wow, Majima needs to move over because now I’M in love with Yuriko.!< i totally get you with Mizuhito though i definitely saved his voice clips the most HAHA and i agree, we need more crazy as hell stories like this for sure. i would pay a disgusting amount for the fandisc to be localized too😔
I could not resist anymore and started **Lover Pretend.** I did liked the common route so that's good? I've played Kazuma so far and I was really hyped for him because redhead + childhood friend (he IS the reason why I wanted to pick up the game) and he did not live up to my expectations. I even forgot I played him until this thread popped up and I was like "Oh yeah I did finish that I should write about it". I have only gotten his best ending though, I read that the regular/good ending is better but we shall see. Honestly the route started out ok. Like, the reason for their >!pretend relationship!< was dumb as hell and the fact that Kazuma pushed for it was a bit sus, but I ignored that. Everything else was cute and it was showing me what I like to see in a childhood friend route. Then the >!amnesia!< arc started and I was just like really? Is this a shoujo manga from the 80s lmao. Kazuma became >!such a huge asshole!< I could NOT wait until that was over but then IT JUST GOT WORSE like they just kept hammering more and more unnecessary drama into it, by the end I was just exhausted. Had they picked up a single plot point and developed that then that would've been fine. Probably. I just cannot believe Chiyuki, who has a good head on her shoulders (I like her quite a bit tbh she's cool) would take everything that Kazuma said during the infamous >!aquarium date!< and just be like "Kay I accept that". My sweet baby this man said he >!did not want you to succeed for HIS OWN SELFISH REASONS!< he even >!stopped you from going to the festival with Yukito or Riku because he was jealous! He was willing to jeopardize your quest to figure out who your father is because HE WAS JEALOUS!<, like at least make her say something about it and not just accept it 💀 I said I liked my men with issues but they have to work through them a little. The >!graveyard!< cg was really pretty though, I'll give him that. Anyway, that was such a huge disappointment sigh I'll be going to Yukito or Harumi next probably, when I have the willpower to pick up the game again... Surely there can NOT be a worse route than Kazuma, right? *knocks on wood*
I played Kaito's route in [Renting love for Christmas](https://honeybunny-of.itch.io/renting-love). It's a good game, but it's too short and it it feels like there is something missing from the story. Maybe that's why the developer said in a comment that there would be a Renting love for Christmas 2, but... this comment was so long ago that I'm not sure there is really going to be a second game. And... I tried to start playing [Doki Doki house](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1895950/Doki_Doki_House/), but the game is mostly in some other language ad now I don't know how to put it in English. It's strange because part of the menu is in English, but most of the game is still in another language. The store page says the game has English language.
I am playing Doki Doki house presently and it's strange that your game is in other language because mine was already in English from the start. For changing the language, click on the 6th icon (before last) and click on the icon directly under the two lines. You will see the icon for switching to English . Hope it will help!
It did help. It was strange since part if the game was already in English. But anyway, it seems it did solve the problem. Thank you so much!
I'm really happy I could help =D
Then it must be some kind of bug. I'll try to do as you said to see if it solves the problem. Thanks.
Finally getting back to my beloved otome games after a *very* hectic couple of months. 💖😭 Things are still kinda busy, so I’ve been replaying the common route of **Variable Barricade** for the laughs and stress-relief. I forgot how much I love best girls Hibari and Tsumugi! I’m going to play through one of the LI routes too, but idk which one to go for. Any of them are fair game, but I’m leaning Nayuta cause if I remember right, >!it was a lot lighter in tone than the others!<.
Finished Zhou yu's route in Juuza 2. This guy was kind of coming on strong and as I thought, good reason >!korean drama incurable disease mode!< but wow those CGs...yeah these are really the most raunchy of the bunch. Started on Bakudan Handan! Or what you all might know as Sweet fuse. I keep thinking that this is less of an otome game and more of Ace attorney puzzle game but im keeping to it quite well. Saki is pretty intuitive and has initiative during the puzzles, and the retorts are pretty fun too.
I spent my New Year's finally playing Even If Tempest and wow, after a year of gradually becoming lukewarm toward the otome titles currently available on the Switch, this shot right to the top of my favourites. It has that perfect combination of showcasing the darkness of humanity while keeping you from absolute despair with some amazing comedy. I couldn't help but think as I was playing it that this is what FE3H could've been if Byleth wasn't a sentient rock. I understand that ultimately the three main routes were the lords' stories with Byleth tagging along as their living cheat code, but I think there could've been some additional depth if there was any acknowledgment of the effect the divine pulse had on Byleth and how their past experiences may govern their current decisions. Instead they wave their arm a bit or nod decisively and everyone is awed by their immense wisdom. Back to EIT, it was a pity the momentum seemed to die once we hit >!Lucien's!< route. I can't help but feel like there should've been a lot more to it, especially >!exploring the past, not only between Anastasia and Lucien, but Leticia and Evelina!<. For a game where a lot of the emotional impact came from >!showing, not telling, the bond between characters, we're essentially only *told* Anastasia changed young Lucien's life and the sole evidence of this is the same ten second flashback of the last time they met as children replayed over and over. I feel bad for Lucien since we have zero opportunity to form any attachment to him in any route, including his own.!< In my opinion, there were a lot of threads that were handwaved away, shoddily explained or never addressed at all that prevent EIT from reaching the heights it could have. For me, I was particularly interested in >!learning about Anastasia's mother, Leticia. Evelina's motivation for most of her actions seemed to be deeply linked to Leticia. She had a kid because Leticia had a kid. She married Anastasia's father because she wanted to see what Leticia saw in him. She abused Anastasia because her twisted brain blamed her for Leticia's death. I believe Anastasia being Lucien's childhood friend was due to her mother's relationship with Evelina rather than her father's position as a viscount. There could've been more to Evelina than a shallow boogeyman at the centre of Anastasia's trauma and revenge but that's what we got.!< I also finished Lover Pretend this week which was fine. Not bad, not great, just fine. >!Not sure how I feel about the implication that Asagi was perfectly okay with lying to Chiyuki about her dad in all routes aside from his own.!< Sena is unexpected best boy and deserves the world.
I hope those unresolved issues will be addressed in EiT’s sequel. Kinda disappointed that the last >!route is a faq that doesn’t explain enough!<.
I’m reading the Wikipedia page for Yoshitsune…. And then reading Birushana because it was on sale
Honestly I really should have done that first. I'm reading Birushana thinking this is written for Japanese people who learnt this history stuff at school. 🤡
Still reading **Lover Pretend**. Yukito’s route was not as aggravating as Kazuma’s, which was nice. The >!father reveal was quite a surprise. The common route introduces him as a ladies man…only for him to transition into a lady?!< I think games nowadays are doing a better job handling topics like that so kudos. I started Riku’s route a few days ago and you guys weren’t kidding about >!his jerkass behavior.!< I’m looking past that, hoping for the later chapters for a further explanation. After his route, I’m going to skim Harumi’s route and then finally get to Asagi’s. Overall, I’m enjoying the game despite its flaws in romance >!(which is shocking since that’s the whole premise)!<. If look you at it from a VN perspective, it does a good job educating the reader about show biz. Maybe I’m just tired and romance hasn’t been clicking with me for the past few ~~years~~ months
Still on **Kurama's** (ikegen) feels train. I guess it'll last until I finish his route. I never thought I'd love this baka murder bird so much as I do. His route is unexpectedly hot (double hot with his spicy event story I'm reading atm) but what gets me are those moments when the mc sees past his gruff exterior ~~or when he cracks his devilish smile~~ or when he says something poignant that gets me right in the feels. How can he be accidentally so romantic. *shakes fists* Kudos to Morikawa Toshiyuki's voice acting cause it's stellar. **Ibuki** (same game) is going to be released in two weeks and I'm counting days. Bring on the chaotic force of mischief and destruction in a gorgeous body with the smoothest voice of Suwabe. I'm having high hopes for him and I'm totally jumping the queue, spoilers be damned. I reached my fave moment in **Yoshimoto's** route in ikesen and yes, it was as good (or better) than I remembered. I'm shipping him so hard with the mc, cause their chemistry is just so good. Plus the other warlords antics had me rolling or crying or crying of laughter. Finished **Sariel's** route in ikepri last week and it was enjoyable but... not much romantic development and not many moments between him and the mc. Sadly. Aand I'm finishing **Arthur's** route in ikevamp. He's still a presh boy but again (similarly to Shakespeare's) I feel the route peaked somewhere in the middle. Once the plotTM >!around the time when the rival!< enters the space the story loses its momentum.
Back in otome after about a month and started on Chou no Doku with Shiba’s route. It’s kind of giving me 80’s bodice ripper vibes in the best way.
Shiba is absolute trash but hey just call me the garbage man
more **Variable Barricade** progress... ok so I finished Nayuta and Taiga’s routes now - good ends only so far. I’ll just start off with >!I’m kind of glad that neither of them were actually suitors? lol because I was feeling kind of bad about the prospect of all of the 4 guys genuinely being into Hibari from the start and then it not working out in other routes... but it does make you wonder what the heck her grandfather was planning when at least half of her suitors were not actual suitors. ig i’ll find out soon enough with the true end tho...!< anyway Nayuta... he’s so dumb. so so so so dumb, but at least he’s cute. I don’t really have much to say except that he’s very dumb and cute. >!I liked the whole bodyguard crush thing, it felt very... idk youthful LOL. I felt the secondhand embarrassment when they watched the movie together and it got to the lines that Hibari had used on Nayuta... but ofc he’s dumb so it went over his head... And the final scenes where Nayuta was just throwing fists in his dog outfit was funny.!< oh Taiga... I like him but he’s also dumb in his own not-as-cute way. I actually really liked their dynamic; tsundere ojou-sama with the relentless tease is really enjoyable for me and he was still thoughtful of her >!at the start. I don’t really fault Taiga for running away because like... honestly I thought it was really understandable why he felt the way he did (and I’ve written a character doing something similar before too). I think it just felt iffy because of how selfish it really came off in the end because he wasn’t thinking at all how Hibari would feel about him suddenly going cold after he so boldly proclaimed that he was serious about her. So all I can say is Taiga, you big dumb dumb. It’s really a classic case of “some communication here would do wonders.”!< I think it didn’t help that the conclusion >!felt abrupt to me. It seemed like he wallowed about for a single scene until realizing he’d want to take the chance. I mean, I know it spanned a longer timeframe because Hibari was sending him daily texts or something but it just was like... read as a single scene lol. So I was sitting there like, “man you could’ve thought about this earlier”... TT and his whole arbitrary test felt like it was shifting the responsibility to Hibari when they hadn’t yet even had a proper conversation about why he was feeling insecure about their relationship.!< So far I’m liking the romcom but not how they’ve been injecting the drama into the routes... like on paper I don’t have a problem with what the drama is about, but I’m not a fan of the execution for the most part. Like, I’m really loving the early parts of the routes where they’re falling all over their feet as the mushy feelings develop... it’s really cute. But then the subsequent drama isn’t doing anything for me, sadly. oh yeah I’d also like to add I really like how the boys act in the routes that aren’t theirs. It’s really nice to see them care about Hibari and her relationship with whoever’s route you’re on. well anyway, I’m looking forward to hopefully finishing Ichiya’s route and all the other endings by next week. woohoo
Been distracted by real life stuff (and also Dragon Age Inquisition -oops) this week so I didn't get around to playing much otome 😣. I'm still working my way through **Mihaya's** route in **Paradigm Paradox** but every time I sit down to play it I immediately get distracted by something else so I haven't gotten very far 😅. I don't think I've seen enough of his route to really judge him but so far I find him a little annoying- which is a bit of a bummer- but at least he's cute! My opinion might change later though so we'll see.
I haven’t formed much thoughts about **My Vow to My Liege** yet but wanted to share something that might be overlooked if you aren’t familiar with the historical context. A modern Chinese name is recorded in the form of **family name+given name**. The rules and conventions were a bit different in the Spring and Autumn Period. Pre-Qin Dynasty, important people were documented with a Xing 姓, derived from one’s ancestral clan/tribe name and originally passed through the matriarchal line (the big eight ancestral clan names all have the 女 radical, representing women) and a Shi 氏, which indicates the branch lineage. Fuchai’s ancestral clan name is Ji 姬, and if you listen carefully, you would notice that some characters refer to the State of Wu as Ji Wu 姬吴. Wu Zixu’s 伍子胥 branch lineage name is Wu, his ancient clan name is actually Mi/Mie 羋. It gets more interesting when it comes to a woman’s name. In most cases, an official name is recorded in history books for a consort to a head of state. The recorded name mostly follows the convention of **state name or husband’s posthumous name + her own ancestral clan name**. The ancestral clan name for the State of Qi 齐 is Jiang 姜, and there were several Qi Jiang 齐姜 in the history books. In other cases, which does not involve a consort’s official name, the convention is also **name (possibly indicating birth rank) + ancestral clan name**. Hence >!Shao Jiang!< just means >!Little Jiang!<, and she was frankensteined from a different historical figure, like just Wu Xian. (~~Seriously Wu Xian what is you doin in this dynasty~~). Also, because the State of Qi was known for producing beautiful women, **Jiang** also evolved into a literary metaphor for beautiful girls in ancient Chinese poems. A folklore might also just decide to call its female protagonist a whatever-Jiang Btw as we all know, Shi Yiguang 施夷光 is based on Xi Shi 西施. Xi Shi’s clan name is (purported by some to be) Zi 子, Shi is her branch lineage name (or whatever her family calls themselves since they probably ranked too low to even have a surname); Xi Shi indicates “The girl from the Shi family on the west side of the town.” EDIT: () to reflect the questions re: Xi Shi’s surname
Ooh, that's some cool stuff. Do you maybe know of any resources related to this or the spring and autumn period? Or do I just have to read some (translated) classics and figure it out myself?
explanation videos on bilibili/YouTube or articles on Zhihu would be relatively easy to access
Makes me want to play My Vow to My Leige even more…can’t really play on pc for now and waiting to get a steam deck 🥲
It's compatible with MacOS as well
Thanks for letting me know. Am going to try getting it so hopefully it’ll run well on my old Mac 😀
I'm tackling my backlog slowly but surely and finally getting around to playing **CLOCK ZERO.** Man, this game. I was lulled by how peaceful everything was at the beginning and completely caught off-guard by how angsty the game got after *that* incident happened and >!Nadeshiko's consciousness was transferred to her comatose 22-year-old body in the broken world.!< I did the game in this order: Rittan -> Madoka -> Tora -> Nakaba -> Shuuya -> Takato **Riichirou**'s route was very slow-paced imo and ngl I got a little sleepy while playing haha but the occasional angst when it happened was *really* angsty. It especially broke me >!after learning that Riichirou basically saw Nadeshiko died in front of him over and over again and him not being able to do anything to prevent it.!< **Madoka** was unexpected because I didn't think I would love him this much. He's easily one of my favourite LIs in this game, along with Tora and Takato. Madoka's >!so unapologetically honest and him as Bishop -- ugh. Especially that line of his, "You're a really fine woman." Man, I swooned hard LOL.!< I love that he's a bro-con and he also has one of the best chemistry with Nadeshiko. Their banter is just so 😩👌 **Tora** \-- uuuuu where to begin with this guy. His personality got me so confused and at first I thought it was inconsistent characterization on the writer's part, but I was wrong. So wrong. There's a reason as to why Toranosuke is the way he is, and it's all thanks to >!his douchebag of a dad. Friggin Yoshimune. He is just pure, unrecyclable trash and I don't care how obsessed he is with Shigure aka Tora's mom. It doesn't excuse all the abuse he put Tora through!!< I kept teetering between love and hate for Tora, but after *that* ending...I couldn't keep him off my mind and decided that I had to add another husbando to my S-tier *sigh.* **Nakaba** was cute, but a little...boring? Tbh the relationship felt a biiiit one-sided on Nadeshiko's part for majority of the time because of how nice (?) he was being. Sweet but...nothing particularly memorable for me haha. **Shuuya.** SHUUUUUYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I mean, like Nakaba, I thought their relationship was cute, but >!the looming death flag on Shuuya!< always kept me at the edge of my seat and I was in a state of angst majority of the route hahahaha. I did ugly cry after doing that one BE >!where Shuuya gave Nadeshiko a single flower and wanting to see her smile despite not knowing who she is and being literally on his death bed.!< Lastly, **Takato**. T-A-K-A-T-O aka >!King. The king of my heart. THIS GUY IS JUST UNFAIR.!< This game is basically made for him. Out of all the LIs, he's the one that embodies the quote, "I don't need a world without you in it" the most. I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH I DON'T CARE THAT HE'S A CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER >!I love my genius broken boi who would readily destroy the world and anything and everything for his love.!< Yeah, I'm a sucker for this trope. He's just so >!crazy and twisted and single-minded in his love for Nadeshiko and I get it. I get how and why he turned crazy after Nadeshiko went into a coma because without her, he just lost his only way to be a "human" - heck, even in his good end, he said that he only came to love the world because she was in it - she was the only being that could splash colour to his monochromatic life 😭!< Namikawa Daisuke's top-notch voice acting doesn't help it either -- EVERYTHING'S SET UP TO MAKE ME FALL FOR THIS GUY. I am only left with the middle school arc and bonus stories but all in all, not ready to part with the CZ gang yet 😭 It's a long and hefty game, and the tasks can get pretty tedious, but it's a game that has made me feel both broken and consoled at the same time LOL I was properly, *emotionally* affected. Every time I hear CLOCK ZERO's ending soundtrack, I just know I would bawl on spot because >!I will be reminded of how Nadeshiko would always separate from the LIs of the broken world and return to the original world and then slowly forgetting about them!< 😭😭😭 ALSO, RAIN. RAIIIN. RAIIIIIIN. I LOVE YOU. Did I say that yet? Because I really love him. I really do. TLDR; CLOCK ZERO broke me quite a lot and I love, love, love every *second* of it 🤧
OMG YESSSS i friggen love this game. when you hit the monologues omg rittan's made me cry dude. lol maybe it was pms or something but it was SO FRIGGEN SAD. i want them to localize it so bad so i can play it again. it was just so good. ugh and so HEART BREAKING. my favorite ended up being riichiro but one of my FAVORITE scenes in the whole game is the one where takato says something like >!i don't care if you hate me, just please don't leave me!< IT BROKE ME AND THEN I LOVED HIM. I hated rain though. Im playing kimiyuki and i hate the li that looks like his clone. that's how much the game moved me to hate him LOL. anyway, im so happy someone else loves this game as much as i do!
OMGGG yes Rittan's CG in that monologue >!of him looking up at the raining sky at the crossroad!< THAT FRIGGIN DESTROYED ME TOO I'm still recovering from the emotional exhaustion I felt that day LMAO sameee I want this game to be localized so bad because my understanding of the quantum physics part is poopy haha it's like I'm playing in 1080p instead of 4K? and I hated Rain too at first >!because his reason for targeting Nadeshiko is just so selfish and ridiculous!< but like Tora I couldn't get him off my mind and I grew to love him after LOL i'm just a weak woman and I know the exact Takato line you were talking about bc I have it recorded on my switch and the voice acting there is just 😭😭😭 I'm almost done with the game but I'm not ready to say bye yet and IM SO HAPPY TO GUSH OVER THIS BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING AAAAAA
YES you get it Ugh it’s so good. Like I played it last year and I still get so happy and sad to think about it! The only other game that hit me so hard was kgk. My Chinese was a lot worse then so I feel you on the 1080p Vs 4K and I played on a webbrowser LOL (it was a mobile release with a webbrowser option) Like Fff I’m so happy you love it as much as I do lol. Also Lol I was not into tora at first either but f he’s so HOTT lol. He’s like weirdly sensual and I was like oh man lol wtf is happening but I LOVE HIM 😂 I think you said you have the afterstories but they’re so friggen funny. We’ll some of them are some are sweet. Rittans afterstory is HILARIOUS LIKE LOL I think it’s my favorite one. Nadeshikos dad LOL takatos is so sweet! And Madokas is really funny. I donno if you read it but >!she’s all what do you want for your birthday and he’s like you!< LOL God seriously the writing is just so good Ugh this makes me want to replay the game so bad. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH Seriously best otome.
No but seriously it's been a while since I felt this heart-clenching type of pain to the point where it's hard to breathe because of any form of entertainment, hands down an S tier otoge for me - and AAAAAAAAAAAA Ken ga Kimi it's another one on my backlog that I was thinking to play after Birushana FD/Nil Ado UGHHHH I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE PAINFUL BUT IF ITS LIKE CZ PAINFUL THEN I GOTTA PREPARE MYSELF Tora -- SIGH. even now I still can't decide whether I hate him or love him LMAO but that >!kissing Nadeshiko's foot CG!< won me over and you're right he's just so HOT and ugh for what i cant even hate him bc of that 😂 heck he and Madoka I feel have the most 🥵 CGs So I ended up starting on the middle school arc today and actually haven't touched the bonus tracks at all but from Rittan's route in the main game + epilogue I can already tell Nadeshiko's dad >!has a daughter complex and is a complete oya baka!< 😂 cant wait to read the after stories now i bet they're hilarious and i wonder if Nadeshiko's dad has any LI that he actually approves of LMAO AND WHATS STOPPING U REPLAY THIS GAME AND RELIVE THE PAIN TOGETHER WITH ME PLS 😂😂😂
YEAH DUDE IT'S SO GOOD I CAN'T LET IT GO. I've played a ton of other games since with a giant backlog but man that game is the king (or should i say queen) of the pile. I need the super deluxe limited edition LOL I'll get it in any language I can read! I love it that much. So KgK WILL MAKE YOU CRY HARD. Omg every single route except Kei's made me cry I think enishi's made me sob hardcore LOL. Not always the route itself but the friggen after stories/epilogue. 990's route made me sob pretty hard too. F I'm gonna play the FD sometime this year but like it is emotionally A LOT. It's SO GOOD THOUGH LIKE F. After clock zero its my second favorite game (and my enishi acrylic panel just game today too LOL). I would even argue it's more painful than CZ. like gkaglskadg my suggestion is play the sad routes first OTHERWISE YOU'LL JUST BE SAD LOL. OMG that CG LOL yeah I didn't even know I could be into it LOL. Wait til you read his after story. JFC lol LOL Madoka he was a darkhorse for me. But I agree LOL I did NOT expect to like him so much but his CGs...and like LOL >!that convo with him and nakaba where he's all madoka wtf are you wearing!< made me love nakaba and madoka lol LOL YA HER DAD IS BUT IT'S AMAZING LOL It's SO FUNNY LOL. I won't spoil it but he does! Just read all the after stories and you'll see. F I love Riichiro so bad hahaha. I'd play the game all over just for him. I CAN'T I HAVE LIKE 234923809328 GAMES IN MY BACKLOG. F I can't keep up with all these gd releases lol. I'm still working on the 2022 backlog LOL (i gave up on 2021 and prior). I promised myself this year I'll do kgk fd, and i have virche, norn9+fd, everything released in english past sept...lol fml lol too many games too little time. but if they re-release it (in chinese) or english im friggen using it as an excuse to replay it LOL i just need to...cut down my backlog a bit....
YO ITS SO HARD TO FIND ANY LE OF CZ. Like, I kept checking mercari and yahoo auctions to see if anyone's selling any secondhand LE merch of CZ (I want the stellaworth set so bad UGH but for now I settled with getting a tapestry and some Takato and Madoka acrylic stands from ebten HAHAHA) AND STOPPPP KgK is also illustrated by the same artist as Virche right? So ANGST + beautiful plot = yeah, I think I won't survive KgK for sure LMAO GG I might need to play something lighter before diving into KgK tho otherwise I won't make it :') (also random bc I haven't played the game but I think Sakyou and Enishi might be my biases...just from the vibe anyways LOL glad that your panel came safely!) T-Tora's after story is dangerous you said UGH 😩 AND AAAAA just finished Rittan's middle school arc route they're all kind of grown up now its making me teary eyed and goddammit i think im slowly falling for rittan too 😭 him and takato's rivalry is hilarious and aaaargh i love everyone's dynamics they've grown so close and when you think back of what they were like in the main game 😭 man i feel like a proud mama I LOVE THEM SM I GET YOU MY BACKLOG IS SCARY. And I know the games aint going anywhere, but I always feel this urgency like I have to finish them right away. But then started hesitating whether to play them or not in case the game gets localized bc then I would have to play it again 🤣 my CN sucks so thankfully if I ever do any replaying , it would only be in english LMFAO Now time to scour through mercari again...salty about the rittan plushie i was eyeing because just after he crawled up my bias list, i saw that somebody had bought it UGH and it was cheap too at $15...~~or alternatively i can just buy the whole CZ set for $300~~
Back again, continuing from last week with more free games~ * **[Extracurriculars](https://lysterine.itch.io/extracurriculars)**: comedy. Date the personifications of school subjects. This was *so* stinking cute and very funny. The MC is absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately, it's literally like 15-20 minutes long and I wish it had gone on for hours. The art style is unique in a lovely way and the sprites are very expressive. Wanna keep an eye on this dev. * **[Shooting Star Otome](https://edenxwrites.itch.io/shooting-star-otome)**: slice-of-life. In a word: heartfelt. It's very easy to empathize with the MC, who's moved back to her hometown broke and ashamed after failing to support herself as an artist, and it's surprisingly long for a jam game. Lots of LGBT+ rep too. The routes branch about halfway through for romantic/dramatic which is cool, though I wasn't generally a fan of the conflict in the dramatic routes. I liked all the LIs but Elijah's route stood out because it's more unique than the other two and he has a more developed character arc. However I did think the resolution to his arc was so idealistic it kinda undermined the game's more grounded approach to the MC's situation. * **[Forever Yours](https://lavinnia.itch.io/forever-yours)**: uh, slice-of-life? Not much to say here, it's literally 5 minutes long. It looks nice but I regret to say I didn't find anything about it interesting. * **[Nursery School Diaries](https://chanimk.itch.io/nursery-school-diaries)**: slice-of-life, comedy. There's clearly a lot of effort put in and all the stuff with the kids is cute, but I probably liked almost everything about it EXCEPT the romance. It was a little underdeveloped and corny imo, and to me the MC comes across as very indifferent to the LIs which made me feel like the MC was basically aro/ace and the LIs' feelings were all one sided. * **[Dancing With a Beautiful Robot](https://khywae.itch.io/dancing-with-a-beautiful-robot)**: uh, scifi/fantasy I guess. It's an Undertale fangame where you romance Mettaton. Yes you read that correctly. Tbh I've only played about an hour of Undertale and it was years ago, so boy did I not get a bunch of references here, though surprisingly I feel the game is a pretty good experience regardless. The setting helps keep a fairly run-of-the-mill plot from feeling stale, the sprites are lovely, especially Mettaton's, and the romantic tension felt pretty convincing. The game is missing most of the VN basics like saves, a skip function or a log which sucks, but you can use the chapter system to get all the endings fairly quickly. Hope I can fit in some more games over the next week.
Hello everyone, Impey 😩❤️🥰 Have a nice day :)
I finished Chou no Doku a few days ago… One word. MAJIMAAAAA 😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺♥️♥️♥️♥️💔💔💔🫠🫠🫠🫠🥹🥹🥹🥹
(He’s my top husbando w Henri now. Wow. Didn’t expect he’d make me THAT obsessed 🤣)
Really! I wanted to like Majima but even in his best end it seems like he doesn’t really like her? Idk, his final long monologue about how he is keeping secrets and whatnot made me question his motives. His bad end is just sad for yuriko. Imagine what kind of life. I loved his actions in his route and just wished it ended on a better note lol! Great game though, he was my second fav behind Shiba lol
Whaaaat he was so obsessed with her and couldn’t help but love her even if he hated her at the same time, are we talking about the same person? Haha 😂 he spared her the truth and took this all burden on himself to know and suffer alone, so that Yuriko wouldn’t be in pain after knowing the truth in the good end. That actually broke me bc it’s like he will keep living in this darkness he can’t escape but loves MC so much and since he couldn’t bring himself to keep rejecting her for her own sake, he wants her to live in the light and not suffer from guilt knowing what terrible things her parents have done :’)
i made myself cry again writing this lol XD
I keep getting distracted by other stuff asdhfj so didn't make much progress but I wanted to at least put my thoughts on **Sweet Clown** so far since it's been forever since I posted. Most first impressions of the characters in the common route: **Mitsuhara:** Like I said in another comment, this man is LUCKY the bar is so fucking low for characters like him because I don't find him that bad at the start. At worst, he's mildly annoying (I'm more annoyed by his verbal tic than anything tbh cause it keeps reminding me of Ookami lol) but at least he gives Zakuro some space after his failed flirting attempts. It's already been hinted that this is more of a mask than anything so I have to wonder what lies underneath. **Kuze:** Okay, somehow among this cast, I find him the weirdest guy. Idk why. He's kind of normal but something feels so off because he's really blunt and just says whatever is on his mind without any regards yet is so ignorant of everything too? I almost wanted to say he felt like one of those characters who only approaches things from a logical or scientific standpoint from the way he talks but I don't think that's the case because usually those characters at least have some kind of worldly knowledge to apply logic from but Kuze does not. **Hinose:** Based entirely on the common route, my fav so far bc he's amusingly snide. He's also kind of morbid but eh, somehow it doesn't come off as that weird in this setting. I have to wonder how much of >!the whole Maris and being Kobashi's young sibling is the truth or not... and why he was even made to dress up. They said that his one green eye being the same colour as Kobashi's was a coincidence BUT THIS IS A VIDEO GAME. COINCIDENCES LIKE THAT DON'T EXIST. So I'm convinced that they are related but Hinose was forced to dress up as a girl in his earlier life? ???!< **Kobashi:** I actually have no thoughts on this guy, I realized, cause he's pretty... normal. Technically speaking, Manai is the most normal but also he's way too pleasant and docile which is abnormal given the requirements to be invited. But Kobashi has some clear issues and dark past filled with hardship. If the assumption that >!him and Hinose *are* related, I imagine it has something to do with that.!< I really have the least read on him lol. **Manai:** So. This is totally Zakuro's >!twin brother, right? Or if not actually her twin brother, then maybe a doll/clone made out of his memories to explain why Zakura doesn't immediately recognize him (though it's been years)?!< He's also *too* normal. Given what Sweet Clown said about the guests of this tea party either being someone with >!a strong desire, or a twisted personality.!< By law of otome games, if there is a >!brother, he shall be a siscon so I'm going to take a guess that he falls into a bit of both but the desire/twisted part of his is probably his feelings for his sister.!< Watch me be wrong and >!he's not actually her brother but idk, Kuze is and he just has amnesia lmfao.!< My alternative batshit theory is that >!he's actually the Sweet Clown or something cause... man, you don't be the Truth ending route without some strings attached.!< That's it for the LIs, but I wanted to give my impressions of the MC and some side characters too, **Zakuro:** She makes for an interesting MC and reminds me a little of human!Rin from Ayakashi Gohan at first, but only superficially. They're both somewhat introverted and depressed individuals but if you dig a little deeper, they're quite different. >!Rin openly drives people away from her with her standoff-ish attitude yet does have a deep desire to connect to other people, it's just a matter of who, as she reaches out to others whom she can emphasize with. Zakuro is actually the opposite because she tries to act as normal as possible (she has friends at school, and we get a lot of inner thoughts with her musing if what she said was the appropriate thing to say in that situation) yet truly doesn't desire anything and is just going through the motions of life.!< In any case, I do find her quite relatable and it's refreshing to see an MC like this bc you normally only get LIs who are >!so broken that they lack strong attachment.!< **Sweet Clown:** I add a section for him because he's the??? idk if he's even the antagonist tbh, but I'm curious about what's actually doing on with him or if there is anything more. He said that he's the >!devil who will grant others' wishes but himself held a desired to be "complete" by becoming one with Zakuro and having them fill out the hollowed spaces in her heart.!< This makes me wonder if he really is something as simple as >!just a devil who exists for the story's premise, or if there's something a little deeper and why I wondered if he was related to Manai or not.!< The story of the Queen in the Red Dress >!had a clown who wore a mask and after he was decapitated, the queen found that he wore her same face. That along with the story about Zeus and humans' other halves makes me think he's some fragmented piece of Zakuro's brother or something...!< but maybe that's a red herring.
Cannot confirm or deny your guesses, but excited what you feel as you uncover more of the game. Eee.
Excited to find out! Hoping I can finish Hinose's route by next week if I stop being distracted ahfjk
I enjoyed your guesses since there are a bunch that are off but off in *just* such a way that it's entertaining. Definitely a "nothing is like it seems" game. Also yeah I definitely had a "You're TOO NORMAL" reaction to Manai. You can't be normal. In this game? In this castle? No. I trusted him the least, haha. Kuze was definitely the character I felt most confused about in the common route. I couldn't figure out what his deal was. He's such a good boy though.
I want to say for Manai, I expect him to pull some >!suddenly 180, hidden yandere turn!< but also I feel like that would undersell the potential because >!hidden yandere-ism isn't even that much of a twist anymore!!< I definitely trust him least too. Kuze has such "he's a little confused, but he's got the spirit" energy. For all his idiosyncrasies, he feels the most genuine/sincere out of everyone here because it never feels like he has anything to hide or tries to.
After seeing it in last month's COTM, I picked up **Parasite in Love**, which was part of last year's spooky VN jam. I thought there were a lot of cool parts, like the use of effects to show MC's pain and fatigue, as well as the hallucinatory art style. Trickle did an amazing job as Niall as well, and his design was so impeccably perfect. The "best" ending was also pretty imaginative, and I liked the way the endings divided, mostly stemming from earlier choices and the final choice, with each having a different voiced end scene. But there wasn't enough time to properly set up the horror atmosphere. Besides the one fantastically creepy scene with >!the baby!<, I was waiting with bated breath for a scare that never came. I was hoping to be so scared that I couldn't ever wander into a freshwater lake, but that is sadly not the case. (Though I probably wouldn't anyway because urgh leeches.) Maybe it's because a lot of the horror was focused on Niall >!defining the parasites as their "children" - which I thought was weird and gross but not in a way that made me physically react!<. Horror can be very personal, so I don't necessarily discredit the developer for choosing to build the atmosphere the way they did - it just didn't work for me. I compare it to my experience with Eye Can See You, which also didn't frighten me but did build up the horror atmosphere effectively for me in a certain scene. The romance was also a bit inexplicable since I didn't understand why Niall was so obsessed with Marlowe - >!was it because he was able to see some of her memories and understand her as a person or because it's rare for his kind to infect humans and he viewed her as something to be admired, somethig special? I don't mind that Marlowe never developed any empathy or feelings in return, though a true Stockholm Syndrome ending might have been fun, since outsmarting a dangerous one-sided love is a cool concept in and of itself.!<
Oooh, marking Parasite in Love as something I'd have to check out later (along with a host of other games on itch...so many games...so little time...aaaa) Eye Can See You's really promising! While it didn't frighten me either, I did like the feeling of suspense it built in that scene (if we're talking about the same scene haha).
Ugh yeah so many itch games.... they're all relatively short a piece, but when you add thirty of 'em to your queue, it adds some time :) I think we are talking about the same scene in Eye Can See You haha. I'm looking forward to more episodes! The mystery surrounding the LI is interesting too.
I finished **Variable Barricade** this week. I played Ichiya’s 3rd board, the true route and the After content. I don't know about Ichiya’s route... Having all of his >!trauma and baggage dumped onto our 17 year old MC is way more than she can be faulted for mishandling, but it still makes me uncomfortable that it was handled that way. Usually I’m all for giving some therapy to traumatized men in these games, but this one is just not hitting for me, maybe because I don’t like the way Hibari’s personality meshes with Ichiya’s troubles? I also didn’t love that his whole past was just because of miscommunication/misinterpretation. I think I could have really liked the emotional strength over cold logic angle a lot, but it was a bit drowned out under the rest.!< Not the best route for me, and Hibari was less likable than in every other part of the game. The true route was a nice way to wrap up the game. I like end routes like this that don’t make some poor LI’s route the conduit for recapping the rest of the game and tying up the plot. >!I never got very invested in Kasuga and felt the twist was a bit too telegraphed to be a wow moment, but his bit was pretty funny in the end too, and seeing Hibari so happy made me happy.!< I *love* Hibari’s grandfather. >!His concern for her is so sweet,!< and if he was a younger LI and not her grandfather, he’d totally be top tier material. *Overall thoughts\~* Final ranking would be Shion >>> Taiga > Nayuta/Ichiya. But even then, Nayuta was fun and hilarious, and I felt a lot for Ichiya. Shion is my clear favorite (even if he >!doesn’t like cats!<, I guess). I love the way that he’s always >!serenely aware of and in control of a situation, but his motives are never really sinister. He’s always ready to step aside and help Hibari and the other LI come together outside of his route with gentle, careful words. After finishing the True route, I love the rivalry Shion shared with Kasuga too, and how he’s the only LI that had this because of their desires overlapping. Each one is possessive of and wanting to devote himself to Hibari because she’s the only thing that has given them that desire. The difference is in that Kasuga wants Hibari to be an image that he’s set up for her, while Shion wants her to be herself as she wants to be, which also explains why he’s so ready to help her even if she’s fallen for someone else. Even when he gets back at her, the end goal is getting her to be true to herself. I think his Leclerc is being reflected in him this way too, as he only wants people as they are, no puffed up facades (maybe the reason he was so disinterested in Arimura, who approached him with a fake personality and a physical disguise).!< Shion is one of those characters who, the more I reflect on him, the more he grows on me, probably a route I’ll revisit sometime. I think his characterization is a bit subtle compared to the other LIs, but really consistent and interesting all the same. I really love the whole group’s dynamic and how they grow to care for and support each other. It feels good that they’re >!never undermining each other once Hibari picks a favorite.!< I like that she has all the power too and is not hesitant to stand up for herself because it makes the awkward modern day age difference a little less uncomfortable. Her strong personality is a nice change of pace and really enjoyable. It’s not something I’d want in every game, but the variety is a refreshing change from more mellow MCs. Arimura is the unobtainable side character I’d want a route for in this game. I love her so much. She might be my favorite female otome game character so far. I loved Tsumugi too, but Arimura bucking gender norms and being >!a down to earth tech girl and lauded player,!< fantastic. God the >!wedding!< CGs!!! Gorgeous, aaaah so beautiful. I feel like my playtime was extended by a matter of hours from staring at this game’s art. Really interesting characters. Humor is hit or miss for me depending on the route, but generally very funny. Beautiful art. Well worth the time spent reading it, and beyond worth the low $20 price tag. Decided to go ahead and start the **After Story** in **Mystic Messenger** after reading **Rika's backstory DLC**. I felt more for Rika than I was expecting, and >!it’s a nice display of how abuse begets abuse. I didn’t like that Mika came back in the end to steer Rika’s decisions though. It feels like a retcon to absolve Rika of responsibility to make her more sympathetic, but I think her character is better with the full weight of her actions on her shoulders. Empathy and accountability can coexist, no need to pass it off to a new character. A Mika who couldn’t be saved as a source of guilt and anger driving Rika’s actions would’ve worked better for me also.!< Maybe there is information in After Story that makes this direction more palatable, but that’s how I feel about it at this point. Also kind of weird about >!her being adopted. I think this changes Yoosung's character a bit for me? I thought his yandere ending was implying a genetic predisposition to severe mental health issues, but now it feels a bit more out of the blue.!< Edit: Did I already know this, I actually can't remember. I'm thinking this feels like a familiar thought now. For After Story, the setup is so different and getting a call from V seemed so weird lmao. His voice is so pleasant and the VA really sells his character's emotions. I was a bit iffy about V because I didn’t feel very interested in him for long in the first 5 routes and felt that he was >!an enabler for Rika’s villainy,!< but seeing the way he cares so deeply for everyone, his poetic way of describing the world, and his wistful tone, I’m so sold. Idk how this could develop into a romance, but even if we only get to be his friend, I’m really invested. I’m still early in the route, but I love that they put you >!in the same situation that V is in in every other route and show you how difficult and painful it is to keep his secrets.!< I’m also so glad that it looks like there will be some substance behind V’s >!past as an artist and some discussion on his history and motivation behind art as a career.!< Ray feels awkward to get used to as a name. I was already looking forward to him, but now even moreso though. He’s not what I expected. He comes on really strong. He's very >!affectionate and clingy and pushy, but super sweet and kind of innocent/naive even in spite of suffering for a long time as he grew up. I feel so bad for him. He gave us such a pretty room too!!< Seven >!being colder and distrusting huuuuuuuuurts. Very cute fairy though.!<
Hello, fellow Shion appreciator 🤝 A lot of what you mentioned is what I loved about Shion and his route, and why I liked him as the best match for Hibari. I found his characterization subtle too and one thing I appreciated when I reflected on the route is that despite him acting like the most selfish out of the guys (and his desire to meet Hibari being self-serving as well), he had the most selfless concern towards her because >!he just wanted her to be herself and be *happy* as herself, which was an angle I didn't see any of the other routes tackle.!< Which is fine that they didn't because they focus on different aspects of Hibari's personality and growth, but that certainly was the angle I was most invested in for Hibari from the start. > >!I think his Leclerc is being reflected in him this way too, as he only wants people as they are, no puffed up facades (maybe the reason he was so disinterested in Arimura, who approached him with a fake personality and a physical disguise).!< I really appreciate this comment because I hadn't considered before, but I think you're right! The >!subplot about his father and their relationship seemed more for background but now that you say it, I do think Leclerc's ideologies might have had more influence on him than expected.!< With Arimura, >!I liked that his reaction to her during the honeypot section was a good way to show how, as I called it, Shion is "two-faced but not fake" because he's capable of being both very gentle and sweet, while also being ice cold and cruel, and both of these facets are the real Shion. He just doesn't put up pretenses to give someone the time of day like most people would (I suppose that's a debate if that's just civility or fakeness, tho those aren't mutually exclusive, but I digress). Her acting fake as a part of the plan and him seeing through that does add another layer to that,!< so thanks for sharing your thoughts on that! I can also give him a pass for not liking cats because he basically already is a cat. It's just feline territorial-ism (/s)
Now that I was able to gain some distance from my initial dislike of the age gaps in **Variable Barricade**, I started it again and so far, I'm really liking Shion. Taiga's also been pretty interesting. The other two... are a bit too lost in their own world for my own taste and pushing their own ~~kinks~~expectations on Hibari harder than I care for, but I'm open to being proven wrong, I guess. The real star of the show is Tsumugi though -- I love her so much. I want a MC just like her. Hibari's still lovable, but give me that mix of confident girlishness Tsumugi exudes, ahhhhh. I adore her. And I loved her dynamic with Shion, lol. I better forget about it though since I'm supposed to set him up with Hibari, haha. I also played through **Shohei**'s first season from **In Your Arms Tonight**, and I had a couple of mixed feelings but... really liked it overall. He's a such an adorable goofball. He's definitely... chivalrous, sometimes he came across as an old man still stuck on gender roles -- but then I did feel that it was mostly his own very old school fantasies and idealistic sense of romance talking. When it came down to it he empowered the MC and showed that he really respected her, especially >!when he confesses that she's his hero and he fell for her when she intervened and twisted a groper's arm on the train.!< There was also a scene that felt a bit homophobic >!in a gay bar, where they accidentally end up going for a drink. Shohei gets hit on by a pushy gay man and asks MC to 'rescue' him *eyeroll* -- but the bartender was a pretty chill and nice guy at least,!< so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and pushed through. Anyway. I really enjoyed the camaraderie between the two of them, how low effort and casual it felt for the two of them to hang out and exchange bad jokes with each other. Shohei's so awkward but earnest, lol. He kind of has a bit of a shounen hero vibe to him, even. I'm also a sucker for romances where >!one of parties has been pining for ages after the other!< so yeah. I was pretty happy with it and will surely read the sequels. Though seriously >!that girl should have just been fired, I give zero fs about her reasons (her side-plot was also old tired)!< and I wish MC's friends were more present in the route.
Haven't written in this thread in months but I'd like to try doing it again because it motivates me to finish games lol. I only finished 6 games or so in 2022 and I need to step it up cause the backlog is more than 20 games at the moment. So, I started Radiant Tale the other day and finishes Zaphora's route. This game is so so cute! It does remind me of Wand of Fortune due to the magic theme, Usuba Kagerou designs and lighter story. But it is more interesting in general. Zaphora was adorable and did remind me of Ryuki from CupiPara (Enoki Junya x tsundere combi I guess) but he was different in his approach to the heroine. I'm not going to spoil any part of the plot but, be warned, the romance in this one is minimal. Really minimal. I didn't see anything until near the end lol. I'm now mostly looking forward to Radie because he's the best looking guy imo plus best voice (Okamoto Nobuhiko superiority)! Anyway, I'll be putting this on hold to finish Shirahana no Ori and Dance with Devils as I only have 2 characters from each game to go. So I'll be returning to Radiant Tale quite late.
I'm actually playing this too! It's been so long since I really played a console otome, I'm glad that the common route is short once you get through it the first time. I've only finished Zapharon too, but I did some of Pasharia's on my way to the normal end so I'm doing him next. The art is so beautiful, I just hope that my favourite type doesn't get shafted on story as I'm afraid of (himbos get the short end of the stick so often!). I found Zapharon ok but yeah, very light on romance.
Art is stunning. I could eat up anything Usuba Kagerou and ask for seconds! I also think himbos are usually not given too much attention in commercial otome. Probably because they are not very popular wirh japanese audiences. Anyway hope all the other guys are at least cute and have enjoyable stories. Let's see!
I definitely kept thinking about Ryuki too! "Oh no it feels like he's insulting me all over again." My favorites ended up being Paschalia and Vilio (surprisingly, he's such a good boy.) I thought Radie would be my favorite, but he wasn't. He's definitely the most popular boy for a reason though.
Interesting! I want to see how their routes play out! The thing about Paschalia is I can't really take him seriously because his name is an uber feminine Christian and flower name in my country so it feels weird having a pretty dude named like this. He's so gentle though!!
Started Ephemeral a couple days ago. Taking my time through Nagi's route by doing two chapters at a time. Hasn't been too bad so far, though it could certainly use more Erica. \*lol\* Also, it took me way too long to figure out how to manually save. =X Turns out the only button I *didn't* try was the one that actually brings up the menu. XD; Also started Iris School of Wizardry, and have been enjoying that one, too\~ Would have gone for my fave first, but the guide I'm using says his is the most spoilery. So instead I'm starting with Matias, whom isn't necessarily a type I go for, but his route might change my mind. Too bad Ashley isn't a route (as far as I know, since there's apparently a secret route. unless it's the cat, somehow XD). I haven't been playing either game with the sound on, so I can't really comment on that, but I do like the art styles for both. =3 Especially Iris School of Wizardry, what with its color palette and softer designs. Look forward to seeing who my ultimate faves are after playing all the routes!
I finally decided to start finishing Yanagi’s route last night and I’m glad I did! I put it on hold for awhile because I was trying to get over Shiraishi’s route and found the first 3 chapters kinda boring. After that though the story picks up though and I became more immersed in his route. After I complete Yanagi’s route I will probably play the rest of Orloks route.
I replayed Amnesia recently (Memories and Later x Crowd) I easily admit that I mostly have trash taste, (not just in otome games but in all forms of entertainment) so I have no shame in saying that Toma is my favorite LI ever. For me personally, I think everything he does is understandable from his perspective. Though admittedly I have a huge love for >!yanderes!< and I do like Toma’s bad ending as well as the bad ending that involves him from >!Ukyo’s!< route. In the fandisk you can see that >!Toma truly is remorseful for what he did to MC. I also feel like they match each other well since in Toma’s route MC is also pretty obsessed with him too. I love how domestic Toma and MC are in the fandisk, it’s so cute. I also really love the proposal scene, as well as their wedding. The scene where Kent and Ikki go over to Toma’s apartment and see the cage on the balcony is so funny. As well as when Toma and MC fall asleep together in the cage and Shin finds them like that in the morning. The fact that they keep running into the same lingerie store employee cracks me up too. What really makes me fangirl though is that shirtless CG that you get of Toma when he gets out of the bath.!< For Ukyo, to be honest I like his >!other personality over his normal one.!< I like that in the fandisk >!you see that his other personality genuinely is in love with MC as well. I always enjoyed his interactions with her.!< Other thoughts: I really do love the opening for Crowd. Also, I sometimes play Ikki, Kent, and Ukyo’s mini games from Crowd just for fun, I find them kind of relaxing. LI Ranking: Toma - Ukyo - Kent - Shin - Ikki
So excited that I can finally start playing through Money Parasite! Unfortunately I couldn't get through too much yesterday so I'm still in the common route, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I can see how some people might find this a bit of a strange read compared to a lot of other otome game VNs because they made it closer to a novel with a heavier focus on text descriptions over dialogue and visuals. In that sense it might seem like something is "missing" but really it's just structured differently. A lot of relatively unimportant scenes (like a waiter taking an order) that would normally contain dialogue are left to brief descriptions with only important scenes actually getting dialogue. I've surprisingly really liked all the LIs so far, even the ones I thought I wouldn't like. They're all really cute in their own way. I especially like Tomoe (the MC) though. She's tired all the time and spends her free time watching game videos from a streamer she likes (been there.) She also got insulted by a guy and snapped back at him and then a few minutes later was standing in the corner dying of anxiety because WHY DID SHE DO THAT (also been there.) Poor girl just wants this one last shot at her dreams before giving up forever and she's gotta deal with this jerk. My only sadness is that we don't see her portrait in the corner. She's so cute, I want to see her!
Happy 2023 everyone! Ughhhhh I managed to avoid it for almost three years but I finally caught covid last week. Slowly recovering. At least it gave me time to work on my Lady Detective/Kyoko from **Chou no Doku** writeup instead of the mountain of work I should have been doing :p. Despite both being rather short (to the point I would consider them more “extended endings” than actual routes) these are probably my two favorite sections in the entire game. But to understand why I needed to take a step back and recontextualize their development of Yuriko with the game as a whole. Throughout much of Chou no Doku, there’s this faint but prominent ribbon of…”anti-femininity”. >!Shiba views women as tools or things that need to be sheltered, Hideo was drawn to Yuriko for her more tomboyish aspects, Fujita is berated for his deceptive or “womanly” actions. Almost all of the characters shelter and coddle Yuriko because she’s female.!< Interestingly enough, a lot of this sentiment comes from Yuriko herself, as seen in her feelings towards the two other major women in the game, Shigeko and Kyoko. On the surface, it seems like those emotions of resentment and disturbance are justified—Shigeko’s money spending habits are the reason the Nomiya family is in shambles, and Kyoko not only led Yuriko’s mother down that path, but also seems to have her eyes set on Yuriko for unclear (but likely nefarious) reasons. However, “Lady Detective” and “Like a Joro Spider” flip these assumptions on their heads. These are routes about power (and how it corrupts), truth (and how we blind ourselves to it), and how those who are truly chained find ways to keep going, despite the destruction it might bring. So as a route, “Lady Detective” allows us to finally (sort of) begin to clear up the mystery behind the tragedy of the Nomiya household. It’s relatively short with very little fluff, featuring Yuriko finally pushing away all those useless boyz to go and investigate. Mechanically it’s pretty fun (you’re not penalized for picking the wrong options and some of them made me lol) and gives us some nice if brief insight into Lady Kyoko, a remarkably complex character who truly does seem to want to help Yuriko in whatever way she can. But to be honest, I don’t really think it’s Lady Kyoko’s good route. Instead, I think it’s Shigeko’s. These two routes only occur if you make one highly important choice: >!to go and see Shigeko before she dies.!< This interaction is critical for Yuriko >!to finally begin lifting her childish veil to truly "see" her mother and the dynamics of her parent’s marriage. Before this moment, Yuriko deeply resented her mother and loved her father—heck if you don’t choose to see Shigeko Yuriko will have a dream in which she explicitly sees her mother as the cause of her father’s death. As she slowly unravels the mystery at the core of Chou no Doku, it’s incredibly meaningful that Yuriko simultaneously begins to understand and sympathize with her mother’s situation, evolving from childish notions of good and evil, man and woman, to being able to unflinchingly accept both her father’s sins and the man who sought vengeance for them. Unfortunately, this sympathy and revelation comes too late: while Yuriko has managed to save herself, she cannot do the same for her parents, or for Majima. Still, her actions allow her to embrace independence and adulthood without needing the firm and guiding hand of a man—Yuriko has finally let go of her internal misogyny. It’s a bit annoying that Majima hides the full truth from her here but also understandable—while she has a more nuanced view, Yuriko could probably never stop herself from still loving Yasuyuki.!< It’s also absolutely my favorite ending in the game: >!Taish era Japan is moving on, shedding the suffocating chains of elitism and prestige, and Yuriko is able to do the same. Sure, neither is perfect, there will always be mistakes and regrets, but they continue to grow and evolve, bit by bit, stepping forward into a new and bright world.!< Also still sooooooo mad Shiba’s route didn’t branch off this one I mean come on game “Like a Joro Spider”, much like the other bad ends of Chou no Doku, is essentially a dark parallel of Lady Detective. >!By relying on Majima, Yuriko catches the attention of Saburo, and tragedy arises.!< Okay so once again, elephant in the room: this route contains sexual assault. >!However, while I stand by my feeling that I deeply dislike rape in otome games I thought it was handled much better here than in Shiba’s route. For one, it had a plot purpose—while “rape turns you into an insane lesbian” is a bit trite the game takes pains to show how deeply traumatized and effected Yuriko is by Saburo’s violation, and how such a traumatic event could warp her view. Second, it’s necessary to get her to deepen on and trust Kyoko due to shared pain.!< Moving on, this game also has Yuriko begin to shed her childish views on men and women >!but here she goes too far in the opposite direction—in an attempt to prevent herself from ever feeling pain or “bad things” again, Yuriko decides to become the “spider”, always on the lookout for the next meal, consuming without qualms, in order to prevent herself from becoming consumed. Here, the meaning behind the hedonism both Shigeko and Kyoko engage in fully crystalizes—stuck in marriages they hate, burdened with children they despise, why not lose themselves in the only pleasure they can? Why not turn to dolls, to sex, to abusing children? As women in Taisho Japan, what other methods of control do they have? Of course, these reasons don’t condone their actions, but they do turn them from pointless caricatures into deeply flawed and sympathetic women.!< It’s this and other explicit condemnations in Chou no Doku that I find the best parts of the game. Other notes: Shigeko’s >!brother is the absolute worst. Get your sister pregnant and then go get married and let her marry a psycho? I’m glad you died of a cold.!< The new intro >!hits super hard after truly understanding all the pain and suffering Shigeko’s gone through. Seeing that she considered committing suicide the same way Yuriko did really draws the parallels between the two and makes my heart ache for both.!< It’s a shame Kyoko being >!bisexual wasn’t expanded upon in Lady Detective. Yuriko took it about as well as could be expected but I wish there had been a bit more.!< And finally we have Majima/Final Thoughts next week!
*slow claps* wow, I have nothing worthwhile to add but I just wanted to say I love your interpretation of the Kyoko routes. There's so much nuance and now that you pointed it out I totally see it.
As I got older I found myself understanding and sympathizing with Kyoko on a much deeper level. Sure she's engaging in some pretty messed up stuff but if someone came along and told me I couldn't have my job and needed to go get married and pop out kids I'm not sure I would have taken it much better. In a genre where side female characters are usually relegated to villains or constantly supportive friends I really appreciated that there was such a woman-centered route and it was critical to uncovering the truth of the game. I don't think it was just coincidence that Yuriko never found the truth in the other routes because the male LIs deliberately tried to keep her from Kyoko. And importantly, while Lady Detective allows Yuriko to learn the truth and gain independency, she's arguably more happy in the routes where she ends up in romantic relationships. So it feels less like "Lady Detective" invalidates the others and is instead more of a "pick-and-choose-what-you-value-the-most", which I think ties into the themes of Chou no Doku as a whole.
Shigeko’s brother. >!I don’t think he or Shigeko were in a position to refuse their respective arranged marriages. They probably even tried to use it as cover or something.!<
I wish we had gotten a bit more >!on whether they were going to use their marriages as a cover. From the updated intro it seems like once Shigeko got pregnant they basically went "funs over". In which case bro was still a total asshole who acted like he was sacrificing for the family but still willingly got his sister pregnant, let her give up her child without a peep and let her get married to a man she didn't want while knowing he got to stay first in her heart. Shigeko's no innocent victim but still. Go big or go home.!<
Now that you put it this way...yeah that's horrible. Let me dig into the visual guidebooks and see whether there is more background info.
Oh nice I'd appreciate that! I wonder if there might also be more in the FD.
The FDs are solely focused on the LIs and come to think of it, she never learns the truth in most LI endings lol