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millenia’s 2015

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Another fresh start even though the last year’s thread wasn’t exactly cluttered. I just like fresh starts.

I’m not making any plans for this year, I’ll just see what I get done. I’ll try to graduate this spring but otherwise I don’t know what’s going to happen to me irl.


Last year I played:

Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can (CP) - 4.0
AR-K - ep. 1 - 4.0 (replay)
AR-K - ep. 2 - 3.5
Ars Harmonia - 3.5
Broken Age - part 1 - 4.5
Broken Sword - remastered - 4.0
The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav - 4.0
The Maker’s Eden - Act. 1 - 4.0
Memoria - 4.5
Moebius - 4.0
The Wolf Among Us - 4.5

The Blackwell Series:
(replays except for the last title)
Legacy - 4.0
Unbound - 4.5
Convergence - 4.5
Deception - 5.0
Epiphany - 5.0 (6.0)

Visual novels/dating sims:
a2 ~a due~ - 4.0
Always Remember Me - 3.0
Analogue: A Hate Story - 4.0
Boku No Shokora (+ The White Day) - 3.5
Coming Out on Top (18+) - 4.0
Coming Out Simulator 2014 - 4.0
Dramatical Murder (18+) - 4.5
In Your Arms Tonight - 3.5
Hadaka Shitsuji (18+) - 4.0


Unfinished:
Final Fantasy XIII
Divinity: Original Sin (co-op with spouse)
Lili - Child of Geos
Broken Sword II - remastered
Face Noir (on a break)


People may wonder how every game gets a 3+ score, am I giving them loosely? Maybe I am. Basically if I give a game 3/5 it means it was “nice”. You know when you don’t really have many good things to say about it type of nice. There just isn’t many bad things to say either so I just stick with the rather boring nice and that’s it. Something below this means it’s already pretty bad or it has some annoying features that the good sides couldn’t redeem. 3.5 then is already an actually good game, just lacks something to make me go all wow, this is great. 4+ means it’s a great game I would recommend to anyone who doesn’t hate its genre.

Which brings me to the issue of genre. I don’t really mind what genre any game is but I try to categorise them a bit here just to make things clearer. And whenever I give a score I give it to the game inside its genre. Some people might cringe when for example so many visual novels get a 4.5 score and think what the hell but it’s the score adjusted by my expectations of the game. So I am not expecting incredible gameplay from visual novels but I am expecting an engaging storyline.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Played in 2015:

Adventures:
Drawn - The Painted Tower (CP, replay) - 3.5

Visual novels:
Hadaka Shitsuji (18+, revisited with different routes) - 4.0
The Second Reproduction - 4.0
Sweet Pool (18+) - 4.5
Togainu No Chi (18+) - 4.5

Other:
Loren The Amazon Princess - 3.5


Currently playing:

Drawn - Dark Flight (CP)
Mass Effect
The Whispered World (CP)
World of Warcraft - Warlords of Draenor


Hoping to play:

Dreamfall Chapters (after revisiting the two earlier games)
No Thank You! (18+)
Tex - Tesla Effect (after finishing The Overseer)

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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I plan on continuing all the titles on the unfinished list at some point. Warlords of Draenor launched in November and I was pretty much playing WoW 24/7 a while before the launch until Christmas or so. Also on December my HD crashed so I lost all my installations. I did pick up all my saves later (hopefully they’ll work even though I am the type of person to always start from scratch anyway) and will reinstall when I get back to the games.

Divinity went on break mostly because of my “playmate”, will see if I continue it alone or together with him. Broken Sword 2… I’m in the second jungle there and I always hated that part. I am thinking about reading a walkthru just to get out of there asap but I don’t know… I would be interested in playing the freeware 2.5 and 3rd game but I really need to finish this one first.

I’ll also try to add some info and screenshots from the games I already finished this year.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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The Second Reproduction (4.0/5) is another Japanese Visual Novel, with English translation patch and this time not yaoi. It has a feisty young princess protagonist who has 3 possible love interest in the game. But it is not a dating sim. The story is actually quite interesting though a bit cliched, but what isn’t these days. In the world both humans and demons exist and the former obviously consider the latter to be completely evil creatures. A war lingers and our protagonist learns that demons=evil isn’t necessarily the truth she thought it was.

Even though the story is the very common “everything isn’t black and white” it’s still an engaging story and the underlying mysteries are really intriguing. Unfortunately not all was revealed (at least not in the three good endings I played + extra chapters). The story focuses a lot on the romance, I’d say it’s 50/50 or so. The game isn’t erotic (pretty much the worst you can see is on the last screenshot) but there’s some sex and violence on the descriptions, it’s rated around 15 or so.

What I really liked about the game was that the three routes and romantic interests were actually surprisingly different. So it was a treat playing them all. And like in most Visual Novels, you only get pieces of the story with each route, so the bigger picture is usually revealed only after going through them all. I am considering going back to the bad endings now that some time has passed and I’m over basking on the good fluffy endings. I also quite liked the protagonist, who surely was a young girl that had a lot to learn about the world and who cried here and there, but she seemed like a real person and not just a whiny, spineless creature that’s basically an object. She very much got shit done.

I didn’t like the gameplay much. And now some people think ‘whaaat?’. This visual novel didn’t just have the basic dialogue options that steer the story. There were a few but most of the time the outcome of the story was affected by your “free day” after each chapter. There you got a chance to visit different parts of the town. In theory this type of solution seems fine, perhaps even better than the regular choices, but in my opinion it just didn’t work very well. First of all you can’t really deduce what is going to happen or even who you run into by visiting the places, so the results seem very random. Added to that the fact that the times you can visit the different spots are very limited, it seemed to be a hassle.

I got frustrated with it even before finishing my first playthrough and ended up checking the directions from a walkthru. Because of this I don’t really know how lenient the game eventually is with your choices, it’s possible there is some room for error. I just disliked the randomness of it. Even the choice between the three main routes happens very unintuitively with one single dialogue option (one of them you can kinda deduce though).

Oh god, I ranted endlessly. This will be it now.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Haha, I actually do want to rant more about romantic visual novels, mainly otome ones (made especially for women).

I’m not hiding the fact that I am a yaoi fan (that’s the x-rated boys love stuff) and a big reason I am that way is because of both Japanese and western romantic stories aimed for women are mostly terribly annoying. Basically most of the time the female protagonist is just a boring object that gets thrown around and pretty much only reacts to stuff that happens. The romantic interests are annoyingly perfect yet perhaps a bit smug types with looks, power, money and sexual prowess. Just about everything here makes me want to gag. In Japan, especially in shoujo manga (the comics aimed for teenage girl audience) the girl is almost always a trembling virgin. I’m over 30 and I have kids, I don’t really relate to timid girls that haven’t had their first kiss yet but I can totally relate to younger people that have actual personalities.

Anyway, getting to games… A game in itself is something that usually makes the protagonist rather active, the subject of the story. Unfortunately visual novel is the perfect type of game to allow the protagonist stay only as a reactive character. So even though I feel that the female protagonists in visual novels aren’t nearly as bad as they are in manga, it’s still more of a nice surprise than a norm to find one that does stuff and shows some personality. I think The Second Reproduction managed to do this, even when the protagonist actually is a young virgin girl.

But then there is the naive concept of one true love, that I dislike. Lots of otome games follow through this, including The Second Reproduction. They present you a harem to pick your partner from and then they leave the unpicked ones to suffer eternity alone. I’m not kidding, sometimes they actually tell you how they never found another partner. And while a life without a romantic partner can be totally fine, pining after your first love for eternity is not.

Personally I’d like to see the poor men paired with each other Wink but I understand it might be a bit strange turn of events. But really, I don’t think all the characters should be stuck with the choice(s) of the protagonist, surely they have other friends and things to do. And while they might not find anyone else in the course of the game, leave that option open for the future at least…

Maybe I have just consumed too much romantic entertainment that I’ve become more picky. But there are tons of great stories there without all the gag-worthy cliches.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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millenia - 28 February 2015 01:39 PM

Haha, I actually do want to rant more about romantic visual novels, mainly otome ones (made especially for women).

I’m not hiding the fact that I am a yaoi fan (that’s the x-rated boys love stuff) and a big reason I am that way is because of both Japanese and western romantic stories aimed for women are mostly terribly annoying. Basically most of the time the female protagonist is just a boring object that gets thrown around and pretty much only reacts to stuff that happens. The romantic interests are annoyingly perfect yet perhaps a bit smug types with looks, power, money and sexual prowess. Just about everything here makes me want to gag.

I also share that feeling, although I am not a great connoisseur of virtual novels as you are, I dislike deeply when I see in a story the typical romantic situations and filled with cliches, which seem to repeat ad nauseum and so far from reality, where everything seems perfect. I can not help but feel somewhat annoyed with all that.

Not that I dislike all existing romantic stories, but I need them to be bolder and why not say it… twisted, with interesting characters, not perfect, perhaps with doubts, defects and that involve imperfect but more realistic decisions. That’s when I feel represented and need that… always, to feel represented by the characters at some point. That’s something I always demand in a story, whether in a game or a movie or wherever a story is told.

Anyway ... I enjoyed Sweet Pool thanks to your recommendation.

     

” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
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The other Nitro+Chiral titles actually serve a more variety of romances, and they also have a twisted side to them, though they might not be quite as directly morbid as Sweet Pool was. Especially DRAMAtical Murder is clearly more upbeat game, though its bad endings are still really disturbing. The other games also have actual happy endings, so they work “better” as romance games (what people want from romantic games might vary).

In yaoi in general there are so much more interesting things going on. Well, just the premise of homosexuality already creates tension that regular straight romances lack. Some of yaoi stories are unfortunately basically just those very regular straight stories where the submissive female is then replaced with a smaller male. But then there are other stories that are so impressive that I’ve rarely come across anything like that in my life even though I’ve read romance novels and watched romance movies for over 20 years. I do think some lesbian stories are also really great and often break the boringly normal couple dynamic, but I prefer the stories between two males mainly just because of eye candy Tongue.

Different kind of yaoi game No, Thank You! just came out in English and I’m eager to play it too but currently I just don’t have money to buy it. I tried the demo and it was hilarious, I loved it. I wouldn’t mind straight visual novels or non-erotic ones either but it seems like most of the romantic ones are made for guys where they court disgustingly cute girls, or then they are those otome games with the shy virgin protagonist. It’s really hard to find anything else. I know they exist but to find them among all the generic crap and hoping there’s an English translation available is often a painful process.

Just now I play Loren the Amazon Princess and while it’s an RPG, you can chat and court your party members while you’re camping. I obviously chose the cute and handsome male lead and am trying out all the shounen ai (boys love without the x-rated stuff) couplings now. They are super cute Grin. There’s a nice variety among the female characters too. I have to say that having the possibility to befriend and get romantically involved with people “the way you choose yourself” (there’s always limits of course) really does add a lot of flavour in the game. And I’d really like more games to have the possibility to choose your gender and your sexuality, it’s a really nice touch.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Coincidentally I had been thinking about trying Dramatical Murder, it gave me the impression of being twisted in its content, perhaps also as Sweet Pool was, but from what you say it is not so fucked up, although the “bad endings” (which actually mean to me my favorites endings) can be a good incentive to give it a try.

My main “inconvenient” with the world of visual novels is that given my lack of knowledge on the subject and not be so soaked with this style is that sometimes I’m afraid of falling into some generic crap, and there are many of them hanging around out there. In addition added to the fact that many of them are not so easy to get everything becomes a little more complicated. And sometimes you do not know where to start. I mean I don’t know where to start. So it’s good when I can read some opinion about some of them.

millenia - 03 March 2015 07:18 PM

I do think some lesbian stories are also really great and often break the boringly normal couple dynamic, but I prefer the stories between two males mainly just because of eye candy Tongue.

: )

I think in my case I would prefer go with the lesbian stories, if it is by the eye candy. Tongue

     

” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
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I’d say two of the DRAMAtical Murder’s main routes are pretty f*ed up, though not in the weird horror way it was in Sweet Pool. One of them is violent, and one of them is - well, hmm… strange (I kinda appreciate all the weird stuff that’s going on in there though). I still liked them but they are not my favourite routes. I can recommend Clear’s route for everything. It’s sweet and funny, it’s emotional (yes I cried), and the bad ending is probably the most twisted of them all.

But you need to really play all the routes to unravel what’s going on. In DRAMAtical Murder there is a clear point of game where you will pick the route from two available ones (unless you managed to play the choices really strongly only toward one character and you don’t get the choice at all). The first half or so of the game is always the same (except for some extra bits in the “true route”) and the latter half is where you are “stuck” with your choice alone and the events greatly vary. In the other games there is no clear distinction like that, the player doesn’t necessarily even know which route they are playing.

The sequel is basically just porn with some back story though if you enjoy the bad endings, it includes longer versions of them too.

* * *

I’m gonna write something about Togainu no Chi (4.5/5) now. Chi means blood and I totally get the meaning of blood in the game but for the love of god I can’t think what that Togainu means Grin. Not that it bothered my gaming experience. It’s another Nitro+Chiral title, which makes it as 18+ yaoi game. And like the other ones, it most likely would be 18+ even without the sex parts.

The story is told in a post-warzone Japan, where everything has gone to hell, there’s a real post-apocalyptic feeling but there are still countries in the world that are doing fine, so that’s not the case. The whole history of the war is very weird and I wont go more into it, but the day to day life now is basically street fighting in a crumbled city. Our protagonist, Akira, is a badass fighter that gets “recruited” (=forced) to enter another area’s tough “fighting game” for the dominance on that area.

The world is bleak and there’s violence and death everywhere. And characters with weird, sadistic hobbies. I played all the routes, good and bad, and I have to say the poor guys don’t really have a chance. It is very rare for a character to manage to survive the plot unless it’s “his route”. The bad endings in this game are especially delicious, I loved them. I consider most of them to be the best endings of the game. There’s a few good endings too but like I said, the bulk of characters end up dead in every single one of them, so don’t get too attached Grin.

I’m not really into brawling or criminal organisations but I still got really engrossed in the plot. I love the art (though I consider DRAMAtical Murder’s art even better) and the music was awesome too, though perhaps there could’ve been more variety still. Overall I’m going to give this game the same score I gave Dramatical Murder and Sweet Pool, they are all awesome. Though I must admit that Nitro+Chiral abuses the whole amnesia thing way too much.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Renacimiento - 07 March 2015 01:44 AM
millenia - 03 March 2015 07:18 PM

I do think some lesbian stories are also really great and often break the boringly normal couple dynamic, but I prefer the stories between two males mainly just because of eye candy Tongue.

: )

I think in my case I would prefer go with the lesbian stories, if it is by the eye candy. Tongue

Oh and this topic. You know how every time there’s a talk about female protagonists in the game, some guys go all “I like to play females because who’d want to watch a guy’s butt for hours on end” and then others have a real rolleyes reaction to that.

I get it, I do want to watch the guy’s butt for hours on end. Heart
It’s not like it’s the reason that makes a game good, but what’s wrong enjoying it while playing? I’m not offended that people like to watch other people, no matter what their gender is. I love the aesthetics of plenty of things and I have to admit that the male form is pretty much on top of that list. (That’s why I am so disappointed with the lack of eye candy in WoW, though I find my ways Crazy.)

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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I’ll tell something about Sweet Pool too. I started playing it last year and played it through the New Year’s. I think that was the way I spend my New Year’s Eve. Not that I complain. Anyway, consequently it was the first game I finished this year.

It’s another one of those yaoi visual novels (I will run out of them eventually) but instead of the somewhat usual sci-fi theme, this one was supernatural horror. You play the game as Youji (the black haired one), somewhat frail young guy who’s been hospitalized for a while and returns to school. But it doesn’t take long to notice that not everything is normal.

Again, I pretty much loved everything about the game. This is a dark story but something I can still play with ease (I am too jumpy for most of the survival horror). And while Sweet Pool is a love story of sorts, it doesn’t really have a single happy end. Some of them are bittersweet or interesting, but it’s more like Romeo&Juliet; bathed in blood monsters than any romcom out there. One of the endings is brutal, still haunts me today.

The choices in the game are made by simply choosing “instinct” or “reason” in important moments (see the first screenshot). I’m not sure it’s really a clever way to split the routes but the whole choosing screen is very lovely. When you hover over the red instinct, the whole screen starts throbbing with a heartbeat. I love all the sounds of the game. I think the voice actors are great like in all Nitro+Chiral games (all the conversations are voiced over) and the music is awesome.

There’s a new complete English patch coming from this game soon (I hope). Unfortunately these games are not officially translated but many thanks to the fans who bother.

And one might notice from the screenshots and my avatar, that I have a thing for Zenya (the long haired blonde in case someone is still confused) in this game. The character is so crazy that it’s both funny and sad, I just love him. And his “theme song” is awesome, it’s my ring tone at the moment. I often just stopped midgame to listen to it and enjoy the beauty of Zenya.

I’m not sure if someone would consider my screenshots spoilerish, I myself don’t think so. In visual novels the bad endings are rather common and showing a screenies with bloody characters can easily just be something from one of the many routes. I would not post a picture that would completely reveal a major plot point.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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millenia - 07 March 2015 10:20 AM

I’d say two of the DRAMAtical Murder’s main routes are pretty f*ed up, though not in the weird horror way it was in Sweet Pool. One of them is violent, and one of them is - well, hmm… strange (I kinda appreciate all the weird stuff that’s going on in there though). I still liked them but they are not my favourite routes. I can recommend Clear’s route for everything. It’s sweet and funny, it’s emotional (yes I cried), and the bad ending is probably the most twisted of them all.

I think I found Dramatical Murder, I say .. I think, because there are a lot of sites out there and I don’t know exactly if I found the right one until I try it. And yet I must wait a little bit more and then check that everything works properly.

I really enjoy when a game allows the player, rather than simply following the “established” path, be able to modify some course of action based on their/our own decisions, to follow different paths, face the consequences (whatever these are) and the possibility of several possible endings. And I must say .. give me fucked up and strange paths any day, instead of a typical and predictable route.

millenia - 07 March 2015 10:35 AM

Oh and this topic. You know how every time there’s a talk about female protagonists in the game, some guys go all “I like to play females because who’d want to watch a guy’s butt for hours on end” and then others have a real rolleyes reaction to that.

Honestly I don’t mind seeing guy’s butt the whole time, ie I would rather see women’s butt of course Heart,  but is not a problem for me to see male characters all the time involved in a sexual/love relationship in a game.

I can watch that without bother me at all, sometimes I prefer female protagonists because I feel it is easier for me to relate to a female protagonist, and always need to relate to a character, and perhaps (although it is somewhat silly) also because it arises in me a feeling protection to that character.

A bit off topic maybe, but I also enjoy twisted, bizarre & dark films, I was moderator of a forum of this kind of films, so you can imagine the things I’ve seen in that regard. And if anyone enjoys dark stories then it is essential lay aside some stupid prejudices.

millenia - 07 March 2015 10:35 AM

I get it, I do want to watch the guy’s butt for hours on end. Heart
It’s not like it’s the reason that makes a game good, but what’s wrong enjoying it while playing?

No problem enjoy something while playing : ) On the contrary.

millenia - 08 March 2015 11:38 AM

Again, I pretty much loved everything about the game. This is a dark story but something I can still play with ease (I am too jumpy for most of the survival horror). And while Sweet Pool is a love story of sorts, it doesn’t really have a single happy end. Some of them are bittersweet or interesting, but it’s more like Romeo&Juliet; bathed in blood monsters than any romcom out there. One of the endings is brutal, still haunts me today.

And one might notice from the screenshots and my avatar, that I have a thing for Zenya (the long haired blonde in case someone is still confused) in this game. The character is so crazy that it’s both funny and sad, I just love him. And his “theme song” is awesome, it’s my ring tone at the moment. I often just stopped midgame to listen to it and enjoy the beauty of Zenya.

Yes, I remember you said that before regarding survival horror games, I understand that they have a different approach and some people can not deal with that.

Well, as is obvious I also love dark stories, yep,love them, and Dramatical Murder for your comments seems to be within that line too. I hope to check it out soon.I will. 

And dark love stories have a special appeal difficult to resist for me. Of course I mentioned before but if something bothers me are the typical happy endings, are empty for me, without inner substance, I need them to be sad or bittersweet. I like the way in which you described it “like Romeo&Juliet; bathed in blood monsters than any romcom out there.”

PS: Nice ringtone & I love your Zenya avatar as well, the day you stop using it I will, yep! : )

 

     

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I’ve almost always opted playing the female character when it’s been available, except in games where you control multiple characters (I like some variety). Now with my rather newly founded interest in BL I’ve really started trying out the male characters too and I find myself enjoying the games fine like this, often even better. Strange thing how we kinda pick up habits and rarely question them. I am kinda fixated making all of the guys gay now though, so I keep shooing all the lecherous women away. Or well, I’m still being nice, just not interested.

* * *

Anyway, since I revisited Hadaka Shitsuji (4/5) I want to say a couple of things about it too. I honestly don’t remember what I wrote about a year ago. I didn’t finish all the routes back then, though I was only missing one of the main ones (the boyish dude with a girly voice was a bit too shota for me) and the true route. There are several mini routes inside other routes too, I checked some of those out too.

So, the game is ludicrous, but it’s that very honestly. The whole premise is silly: you are a young guy in a pinch and you get offered “a job” as playing a master of a mansion for a month. The mansion is of course filled with handsome butlers - obviously. The game starts all funny, innocent and awkward. Then given you make some “right” choices, you end up in some seriously twisted scenarios, but it’s still funny. It’s so freaking funny that I chuckle every time I think about the game, even the most sadistic weird things in it.

Krhm. What I really respect about the game though is that it is actually possible to play it without doing anything nasty to anyone. It’s a rather boring approach but perfectly doable. Then all the main routes (for the different butlers) have a ‘lite route’ and ‘true route’, where the aforementioned tells a bit sweeter story about friendship or love (several of them have some kinky stuff in them already though). The ‘true true’ route is a completely twisted harem game that finally reveals the “actual plot” of the game. I’m sorry, I can’t honestly mention that without the quotation marks and smirking. My favourite butler had probably the sickest true route of them all, just my luck.

Now I’m probably done with the yaoi VNs for a little while. Though I think there’s probably two more coming this year still Wink.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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I finally finished Loren The Amazon Princess (3.5/5) which is a visual-novelish RPG. Basically it could just be any turn based RPG but it does play a lot like visual novel when you are not fighting. In addition once you complete the game once, you can enable “a story mode” which will make you onehit all the battles so you can just enjoy the story. The story mode definitely is a virtual novel, the characters don’t even get exp in it.

I got this game from one of the Indie Gala bundles and basically started playing it just because I noticed it had romances in it Heart Eyes. The story is pretty basic “save the fantasy world by uniting the different races against a greater evil” type of thing, which isn’t especially great but not bad by any means. What I really enjoyed was the different characters and the interaction between them.

The options for protagonist are a human male and an elf female. I obviously chose the cute and hot male. It is possible to not gather all the characters to your party. At least 4 of them are optional. The same way the game represents you with plenty of other choices that change the course of the game a bit. I didn’t experiment much, but you probably end up on the same place after most variations, but it certainly at least feels like your actions matter. There are plenty of opportunities to kill or leave people alive, including potential party members.

The characters are dual classes, they have 3 different abilities to rise and then they have separate skill trees for the two classes. Everyone is either a warrior, a thief or a mage with one of their classes and the second one is a specialty class, unique to each character. I think the fighting and character advancing was pretty fun. In some parts of the game you had to separate your party into smaller groups so going all out on a one specific 6 member team is probably not advised.

The heart of the game totally resides in camping though. There you can chat and try to romance the characters (it’s not hard but you can choose not to). You’re also able to watch another couple forming within the party of heroes - and even help them out. Obviously I tried all the three shounen ai options, though I admit Chambara was pretty badass and I contemplated throwing her to the bunch too but eventually decided that going after 3 people was already lecherous enough. (Well, nothing really happens before you actually make a choice towards the end of the game.)

I was really pleasantly surprised by the romances (and other interaction too). All the three romances were very different and pretty believable. If I had gone after the women they’d probably been yet again different, for their personalities and statuses varied greatly. Most of the characters you can romance with a protagonist of either gender, I might be interested enough to see how differently they react towards a different love interest. The game also has side quests, achievements, several difficulty settings and other stuff to improve re-playability.

I think it took me around 25 hours to finish the game, doing some optional stuff and using the slower combat most of the time. I gather it’s like half of that if you want to rush things.

I’m adding tons of screenshots because there are a few from game mechanics stuff and I don’t want to leave out the last ones that show the characters’ nature a bit. I liked the art, unfortunately there wasn’t much voice acting, just some oneliners during fights.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Joined 2011-10-21

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Renacimiento - 10 March 2015 02:31 AM

I think I found Dramatical Murder, I say .. I think, because there are a lot of sites out there and I don’t know exactly if I found the right one until I try it.

Have you tried the Visual Novel Database? It contains links to the correct sites to buy & download the games. Wink

Renacimiento - 10 March 2015 02:31 AM

I love your Zenya avatar as well, the day you stop using it I will, yep! : )

That’s SO going to confuse me when that happens… Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Joined 2014-08-01

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TimovieMan - 10 March 2015 05:48 PM

Have you tried the Visual Novel Database? It contains links to the correct sites to buy & download the games. Wink

Ha! Thank you!!. I’ll take a look.

TimovieMan - 10 March 2015 05:48 PM

That’s SO going to confuse me when that happens… Tongue

Cool

     

” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
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