Bloody Otome games! Sweet Fuse VS Hakuoki

Right, so, for whatever reason, I decided to buy and play some Otome games, that is, female-aimed dating sims or visual novels from Japan.

Sweet Fuse

First up, is this late-release on the PSP, in the UK it is only available to download, for some reasonable sum.

The game is created by Idea Factory and Otomate, in conjunction with Comcept, the story revolves around a young woman who so happens to be Keiji Inafune’s niece, who is attending the opening of his new theme park when a strange pig terrorist takes over and threatens to blow the place to kingdom come, lest 7 people are able to complete a task set each day. Obviously this leaves our leading lady with a harem cast of 7 losers who she can potentially hitch up with throughout the course of the game.

As a visual novel there is lots of text and some decision making to be done, even the more interesting gameplay is still just a series of inputs. Sometimes you will be put in situations where you can choose what you want to do, and when there is a puzzle, your character can choose a certain word in order to ‘intuit’ a solution, nice going there game.

There are some issues with some of the game, for example, one of the characters attempts to hit a child and another, well… a few others are also complete nutters.

This might just be a fetish thing, I’m not entirely sure.

Additionally, the main character is somewhat lacking in personality outside of mindless optimism, but I suppose if you’re playing this game you probably don’t care what the woman is like.

There are multiple routes in the game, I only did a few of them but really one is enough for the average player, the game pace is pretty fast and if you want to be dating a certain character you have to be pretty snappy on accepting the opportunities, I also noted that in order to make sure you don’t accidentally get some other chump, you basically have to be a complete dick to everyone that isn’t the desired ‘beau’ for that playthrough.

Basically pissed-off mode.[/caption]

Considering this game is really little more than an erotica, (without eroticism) I was fairly surprised with the level of quality of not only the game mechanics, GUI and the art, but also the story and character development, somehow it ends up as more than the sum of its rather embarrassing parts and easily defied expectations. Obviously the game is aimed at hetero-femmes so it’s not for everyone, but I do think there is some merit to those who are willing to play it that are outside its targeted parameters.

I’m still not entirely sure what the point of Keiji Inafune is though.

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom

Somehow Sweet Fuse wasn’t quite enough Otome, so next I moved onto this rather popular PSP game.

Set during the Meiji Restoration in Japan, when the Shinsengumi are on the rise to power, the game follows Chizuru, a young woman who is saved by them whilst searching the dark streets of Kyoto for her father. She remains in their confines as they share the same goal and her knowledge of them poses a threat.

Despite having the same developer as Sweet Fuse, Hakuoki manages  to subvert almost every trope that the former supports, by having a more robust plot and better characters. The game is entirely text-based, with no other element outside the very few decision-making moments, it also boasts a nigh-entire lack of otome-esque moments, outside of the last couple of chapters, at which point the story seems to go rather downhill anyway as it strays from the reality that it formerly portrayed.

By this I am mostly talking about how the subject of vampirism is strangely added into the events of the Meiji restoration seemingly informing the course of history. Obviously this tied with the romance in the latter half make for some fucking cringy gameplay that will have you hiding behind chairs to escape prying eyes of shame.

There are more bad endings in this game, meaning if you don’t want to waste loads of time playing it to screw up, then you might want to consider a walkthrough or something as sometimes it’s not always clear what options do what.

The visuals are pretty whilst also maintaining a rather old and rich look with earthly colours used to set the sombre tone of the game, at rich contrast with the pinks and brightness of Sweet Fuse. The game plays quite well but could do with some more streamlined mechanics.

Because only wistful men are desirable.[/caption]

In the end, it’s easy to say this is the better game in most aspects, it has some great story even if spoiled by ridiculous supernatural stuff and the characters are much more interesting and don’t feel like cardboard cutouts of a girl’s fantasy, however it is all of this that is its biggest weakness. It’s overall a bit depressing and boring, the characters and story are a little too serious considering it’s a bleeding Otome game, there are little instances of excitement or humour and it just weighs you down by the end.

So in the end the winner is… Sweet Fuse.

It’s more exciting, funny and honest, even if it’s not for everyone. The characters are mostly stupid but they seem to be more-ish to talk to if nothing else.  I wouldn’t get too excited over this victory though, it’s more like a win derived from the opponent being ill that day, or something that would be given out as a congratulations for turning up. So…

Well done, Sweet Fuse. Well done.

Bloody Otome games! Sweet Fuse VS Hakuoki

999 Revisited

A little while ago, I played a game called 999 on the DS which I reviewed. It’s a visual-novel style adventure game which has multiple pathways leading to different endings, this formula changes the game dramatically depending on your decisions in-game.

Last time I picked this up, I had only completed a single route (consequently the worst one in the game) and couldn’t be bothered with any more at the time.

My enthusiasm for writing having since depleted, I decided to replay it and get a different ending to see if it could change my somewhat ‘average’ opinion of the game.

This time, I played through two routes of the game and as an amendment to my previous review, please just assume that pretty much most negative stuff I said, is a positive depending on the route you take. The game is far better than to be judged on a single route alone, if you don’t want to play through more than once, then perhaps you might not want to pick this up. However, the point in this article is not to re-review, but merely as a platform for me to just talk about some of it in more detail. So I’m afraid I have to issue this before I go on.

Spoiler Warning: Click to view

I originally took the SUB path, but recently played the SAFE and TRUE endings. 

So, from what we know, Akane becomes Zero in order to preserve the timeline in which she is saved by Junpei, she exists corporeally throughout the game and during what I expect are time mis-alignments, or connection issues when  trouble is happening in one of the timelines, she begins to discorporate, resulting (oddly) in her being ill. The mask, albeit mainly used for the nerve gas, is, what I presumed, a reference to her problems as in Japan, breathing masks are used when a person is ill.

As Zero she goes through some cold decisions that will ultimately question her moral standing, it’s simple to assume that as a result of the requirements to survive, the game itself and the necessity to act the part throughout the modern nonary game, Akane has got Multi-Personality-Disorder. The entire modern nonary game is unfortunately predicated on the fact that a 9 year old girl can’t solve a simple sudoku which was fairly amusing.

While playing through the game, I believed that Lotus was Alice (All-Ice) as she is wearing weird Egyptian-esque clothes and has no connecting purpose to being there, however it became immediately apparent that the entire existence of Alice and Lotus was pointless after Alice is revealed to be a separate person all together.

A few plot holes/Inconsistencies were raised in the final True ending playthrough, after saving the kids through the vent, Seven loses Akane, who gets captured and put back in the incinerator. Why didn’t they go back through the vent? The rope should have been pulled back up as otherwise Ace would have been able to follow them. They had 20 minutes to do this yet they didn’t bother? Akane also mentions that they can hear the children that had made it through the door before them going up the stairs ahead of them, meaning there is another route to the other side of the incinerator surely? Other problems soon ended up being solved, with due attention.

There are some pretty good questions and answers here, as some of my thoughts were cleared up by them, they might be useful for other players with concerns.

It really is well worth the time of playing again, I’m so glad I did. It takes about 7-9 hours to do first time round but when again sometimes it might only take about 3-4 hours.

 

999 Revisited

Year of the Vita

This coming year should be seeing the PS4 and Xbox One trounce all over other systems, but instead we’re being treated to a nice slew of games for the 3DS and PSVita. Where exactly are the new consoles going?

The 3DS enjoyed a fantastic rise in system and software sales, thanks to such quality titles and major first party releases from the likes of the Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem and Luigi’s Mansion series.

While the PS4 and Xbox One enjoyed record-breaking system sales, the software line-up was far from award-winning with such dreary titles as Knack and Ryse dragging themselves to the behemoth consoles.

But surely this will be their signature year, with a short run-up this is their time to shine?

Well, not really.

The PS4 is seeing the latest Infamous instalment, Second Son, which although a successful series, it’s not going to shift many new consoles, nor is it a hugely anticipated title. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes looks to be less than a cast-off to the series, apparently lasting only 2 hours and going for dirt cheap on stores like Gamestop.

Xbone is getting the new not-so-exclusive Titanfall, whose new press-releases appear to be getting less and less positive causing anger among some hopeful, yet premature fans, Quantum Break, which isn’t a videogame and Halo which is not releasing any time soon.

Basically the new consoles are just expensive pieces of kit, that try very very hard to make wank like Fifa look good enough to buy. Whereas the lovely, spangly portable consoles, yes, even the forgotten bastard Vita, especially, are getting a beautiful roster of fun and interesting games, but most importantly, NEW IPs, such as Danganronpa, Toukiden and Conception (II but we never saw the first one).

Returning franchises will see titles such as Prof. Layton VS Ace Attorney, Yoshi’s New Island and Inazuma Eleven 3: Team Ogre Attacks! The Vita has a further instalment in the little-known trap-strategy series, Deception IV and a few more new titles, Demon Gaze and Mind Zero. Even the Wii-U has some substantial games to offer this year with, Super Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze and hopefully we might see some of the new Monolith Soft game.

Looking back at some of these titles I notice that they’re all Japanese, but there are very few, noteable western releases coming out, thanks wholly to the major western companies pulling out from the Wii-U and pooh-poohing the portables. Western devs don’t understand how to effectively make middle-range games, which are usually what the Japanese devs are great at. Yes, Indie titles and Triple A releases come out a storm in the west, with some of the best being released these past few years, but if they’re not on the new consoles what good is that?

I feel that as I am getting older and more cynical, I really have lost all the excitement I used to feel when a new console came out. The latest crop had unappetising previews and since they’ve come out they have garnered little excitement outside the respective console-wank circle, which I don’t have a habit of liaising with.

A lot of people bought Xbones and PS4s, but I am not sure if they’re going to shift many more until their lineup has strengthened significantly.

I suppose it’s no big deal. I can just wait. I have things to do in the meantime.
I’m still trying to play through all of my DS games…

Year of the Vita